The Court of Appeal sitting in Calabar has affirmed the conviction of Professor Peter Ogban, a university lecturer jailed in 2021 for falsifying election results in favour of Senator Godswill Akpabio during the 2019 general elections.
Ogban, a professor of soil science at the University of Calabar, served as the returning officer for the senatorial election in Akwa Ibom North-West District. He was found guilty of manipulating results in two local government areas — Oruk Anam and Etim Ekpo — to confer an electoral advantage on the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Mr Akpabio.
The appeal court’s decision, delivered on Wednesday, upheld the earlier ruling of a State High Court in Uyo, which sentenced the academic to three years in prison for the offence.
The 2019 election, marred by pockets of violence, saw Mr Akpabio — a former governor of Akwa Ibom who had recently defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the APC — lose to the PDP candidate, Chris Ekpenyong, a former deputy governor of the state.
During his trial, Professor Ogban admitted to altering the election results to inflate votes for the APC. Among the irregularities cited in court was the addition of approximately 5,000 fraudulent votes to the APC tally in Oruk Anam Local Government Area.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) prosecuted the case, which was widely viewed as a landmark in the fight against electoral malpractice in Nigeria.
At the time of sentencing, Ogban pleaded for leniency. However, Justice Augustine Odokwo stated that the prosecution had proved its case beyond reasonable doubt and emphasised that the law had to take its course. He described the case as “novel” and underscored its significance in reinforcing electoral accountability.
Despite the conviction arising from an election he ultimately lost, Mr Akpabio returned to contest again in 2023. He won and was subsequently elected President of the Nigerian Senate.
