The Court of Appeal sitting in Calabar, has affirmed the conviction and three-year prison sentence against Professor Peter Ogban, a University of Calabar (UNICAL) professor, whom was accused of electoral fraud committed in the 2019 Akwa Ibom North-West Senatorial District election, which led to the emergence of the current Senate President, Godswill Akpabio.
The court in its ruling delivered this afternoon, the appellate court Okayed the earlier judgment of the Akwa Ibom High Court in Ikot Ekpene, which found Ogban guilty of manipulating and announcing falsified election results.
Accordingly, the court condemned the academician conduct, citing that such act comes with grave consequence by someone entrusted with safeguarding the integrity of the electoral process.
This is coming after a rigorous investigation led by the then Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) of INEC in Akwa Ibom State, Barrister Mike Igini was concluded.
Under his leadership of Igini, the electoral umpire pursued the prosecution of two university professors, Ogban and Ignatius Uduk, for their roles in election result manipulation during the 2019 general election.
Just like Ogban, Uduk was slammed with three years in prison for perjury and publishing false election results during the 2019 general elections.
However, Akpabio has consistently denied any involvement in the electoral malpractice involving the convicted professor.
The Senate President is yet to react to the appellate court ruling as of the time of filing this report.
