Appeal court upholds 3-year jail term for professor who falsified electoral results for Akpabio

The Court of Appeal in Calabar has upheld the conviction of Professor Peter Ogban, a former returning officer in the 2019 Akwa Ibom North-West senatorial election, for electoral fraud.

Ogban, a professor of soil physics at the University of Calabar, was sentenced to three years in prison for manipulating vote counts to benefit Godswill Akpabio, then minister of Niger Delta affairs and now Nigeria's senate president.

In its Wednesday ruling, the appellate court affirmed the 2021 verdict of the Akwa Ibom State High Court in Ikot Ekpene, which found Ogban guilty of falsifying results to inflate Akpabio’s numbers and suppress votes for his opponent, Christopher Ekpenyong of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Despite the manipulation, Akpabio ultimately lost the election.

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Describing Ogban’s actions as “a betrayal of public trust,” the court noted that his conduct had serious implications for the integrity of Nigeria’s democratic process.

Ogban’s prosecution stemmed from an investigation led by then INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner in Akwa Ibom, Mike Igini, who also pursued charges against another academic, Professor Ignatius Uduk, for similar offences.

In a related case, the Akwa Ibom High Court in Uyo, in February 2024, sentenced Uduk, a professor at the University of Uyo, to three years in prison for perjury and announcing false results in the 2019 Essien Udim constituency election.

He was also fined ₦100,000.

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His trial faced numerous delays, including a courtroom collapse and an unsuccessful attempt to remove the judge due to alleged bias.

Though he lost the 2019 race, Akpabio returned to the Senate in 2023 and currently serves as its president.