THE State High Court, sitting in Ikot Ekpene, has sentenced a university professor, Peter Ogban, to three years imprisonment for manipulation and falsification of election results.
Ogban, who lectures at the University of Uyo, has been standing trial before a State High Court in Ikot Ekpene division since November 2020 on two-count of manipulation and falsification of election results.
The lecturer, who was the returning officer in the Senatorial Election held in Akwa Ibom north-west in 2019, was accused of manipulating scores of two political parties, falsified and announced fake results in two local government areas of Etim Ekpo and Oruk Anam.
While testying against the defendant at the resumed trial yesterday, the witnesses Enoidem and Ekaidem, who who served as collation officers for Orukamam and Etim Ekpo LGAs respectively, told the Court presided over by Justice Augustine Odokwo, that the results they presented were different from the one declared by Ogban who was the returning officers during the exercise.
In the Oruk Anam LGA election result, Enoidem noted that while his result showed that the APC scored 10,534 votes and the PDP 25,123 votes, the one declared by the accused had the APC with15, 534 votes and the PDP 20,123 votes, thereby reducing the votes for the PDP by 5,000 and increasing that for the APC by 5,000.
Also, Dr Ekaidem, said while his collated result for Etim Ekpo LGA showed that the APC scored 2,671 votes and the PDP 6,603 the result finally declared by the accused was 5,671 votes for the APC and 3,306 for the PDP.
In his judgment, Justice Odokwo said that the evidence before him was overwhelming and that the prosecuting counsel has proved the case beyond a reasonable doubt.
The defendant and his lawyer, however, pleaded for mercy.
The accused pleaded for mercy on the premise that he has dependents including a 90-year-old mother to cater for.
The judge, however, turned down the pleas and ordered the accused to pay a fine of N100, 000 on the first count and sentenced him to three years in a correctional facility with no option of a fine.
