Professor Peter Ogban of Department of Soil Science, University of Calabar has been jailed for 36 months after a he was found guilty of electoral fraud.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had sued Ogban for fraudulently tampering with the election results in favour of the All Progressives Congress (APC) party during the 2019 general election in Akwa Ibom North-West Senatorial District.
Justice Augustine Odokwo of the Akwa Ibom State High Court 2 sitting in Ikot Ekpene sentenced the accused to 36 months of correctional service and told to pay a fine of N100,000 for counts 2 and 1 respectively, after the accused had pleaded for leniency.
Ogban, who was the Collation/Returning Officer during the National Assembly elections, allegedly manipulated and falsified the scores of election results in Oruk Anam and Etim Ekpo local government areas in favour of the APC).
Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio, was the APC candidate in the election who was defeated by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP’s) candidate, Chris Ekpenyong, a former deputy governor in Akwa Ibom State, in the election which was gripped by pockets of violence.
