Appeal Court Affirms Professor Ogban’s Conviction For Election Manipulation In Favour Of Akpabio

Appeal Court Affirms Professor Ogban’s Conviction For Election Manipulation In Favour Of Akpabio

The Court of Appeal in Calabar, Cross River State, has upheld the conviction and three-year jail term handed to Professor Peter Ogban for tampering with the outcome of the 2019 Akwa Ibom North-West Senatorial election to benefit Senator Godswill Akpabio.

Delivering judgment on Wednesday, the appellate court maintained the earlier ruling of the High Court sitting in Ikot Ekpene, Akwa Ibom State, which had found Ogban guilty of electoral malpractice.

The court took a firm stance against Ogban’s misconduct, highlighting the seriousness of his actions given his academic standing and the public trust placed in him during the electoral process.

Professor Ogban, an academic in Soil Physics at the University of Calabar, served as the returning officer for the senatorial poll. He came under prosecution by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) following findings that he manipulated collated figures to favour then-Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio.

Ogban was convicted for falsifying results to inflate Akpabio’s votes against his opponent, Christopher Ekpenyong of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Akpabio has denied any involvement in the electoral misconduct.

The investigation and legal action that led to Ogban’s conviction were spearheaded by the former INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner in Akwa Ibom, Barrister Mike Igini.

His efforts resulted in the prosecution of two academics, Ogban and Professor Ignatius Uduk, for their roles in announcing doctored election results. The ruling by the Court of Appeal now solidifies one of those landmark convictions.

In a related development, Professor Ignatius Uduk of the University of Uyo was sentenced in February by a State High Court in Uyo to three years in prison for perjury and for announcing fake results during the 2019 general elections. Uduk served as the returning officer for the Essien Udim State Constituency vote.

Alongside the custodial sentence, the court also imposed a fine of ₦100,000.

Uduk’s case represented the second major conviction of a Nigerian professor for electoral misconduct. He was initially arraigned in December 2020 after a warrant was issued for his arrest in November of that year, due to multiple failures to attend his court hearings.

Although he pleaded not guilty to the three-count charge brought by INEC, the trial was plagued by several delays—including changes in defence counsel and a dramatic moment when Uduk collapsed in court during cross-examination.

At a stage in the trial, Uduk accused the presiding judge of bias and requested that the judge recuse himself. That request was granted.

The Chief Judge of the state reassigned the case, only for it to be returned to the original judge for continuation.