How jailing of senator for corruption has unsettled Akwa Ibom politicians

Supporters of Bassey Albert, the Akwa Ibom State senator and governorship candidate of the Young Progressive Party jailed two weeks ago for corruption by the Federal High Court in Uyo, do not believe he was justly punished.

Mr Albert’s campaign organisation has denounced the judgement as a “travesty of justice”, and his supporters accuse Governor Udom Emmanuel of influencing the processes that resulted in the conviction. Mr Emmanuel has denied.

His Commissioner for Information, Ini Ememobong, said in a statement on Friday that no official had a hand in the case. “We only learnt from news reports that the defence team through their witnesses had without ambiguity admitted to the commission of the offenses contained in the charges against the accused person,” he said.

Former Governor Godswill Akpabio, whose administration Mr Albert served as finance commissioner, has also denied having a hand in the conviction. But the accusations are not going away just yet.

The Road to Jail

Justice Agatha Okeke on 1 December sentenced Mr Albert, a senator, to 42 years in prison for receiving bribes of 12 cars worth N254 million. Mr Albert was handed seven years for each of six charges, totalling 42 years. The sentences run concurrently.

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The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), which prosecuted Mr Albert, said he received the vehicles between 2010 and 2014 from Jide Omokore, a businessman, when Mr Albert served as finance commissioner and chairman of Inter-Ministerial Direct Labour Coordinating Committee (IMDLCC).

The anti-graft agency said it traced N3 billion payments from the Akwa Ibom State Government and IMDLCC to the accounts of five companies linked to Mr Omokore, who said the payments were for contracts he executed for the state government.

The commission through a search warrant executed at Mr Omokore’s residence and office discovered documents indicating that Mr Omokore and his companies received monies from the state government and bought cars for Mr Albert.

The EFCC arrested Mr Albert on 14 May 2018 but later released him on bail. In August 2018, the commission filed a suit against Messrs Albert and Omokore at the Lagos High Court in Ikeja but the duo were absent when the matter was heard on 12 December 2018 as the defence counsel challenged the court’s jurisdiction to hear the matter.

The judge, Oluwatoyin Taiwo, on 10 April 2019 dismissed the suit for lack of jurisdiction.

On 24 June 2019, the EFCC arraigned Mr Albert at the Federal High Court in Uyo for money laundering, but he pleaded not guilty. The judge, Agatha Okeke, revoked the arrest warrant she issued on him on 17 June 2019 for breaching the bail term granted him by the EFCC. She granted Mr Albert bail with a bond of N20 million.

On 20 October 2020, EFCC tendered documents including a search warrant, a petition from Leo Ekpenyong, a lawyer, and four statements made by Mr Albert.

The case continued. In May 2022, Kubiat Etah and Kennedy Ekong, defence witnesses admitted receiving cars from Mr Albert but denied knowledge of transactions between Messrs Albert and Omokore, as Nigerialawyer reported.

Political Career

Mr Albert worked in the banking sector and served as First City Monument Bank’s assistant vice president and general manager overseeing Akwa Ibom and Cross River. He joined the bank in 2005.

He got into government and politics as finance commissioner in 2007, appointed through the benevolence of his elder brother, Ime Albert, who had contested for Senate in 2007 but lost to Effiong Bob, then incumbent.

Mr Albert resigned as commissioner in 2014 to contest the governorship election in 2015 but was compensated with a senate ticket after stepping down for Governor Emmanuel. He was serving a second term before his conviction.

As chairman of Senate Committee on Gas Resources (first term), his committee turned down a proposal of N200 million in the budget of the Ministry of Petroleum Resources for the preparation of Petroleum Industry Bill and rejected a request for appropriation of N200 million for the review of Nigeria Gas Master-plan, saying it was unnecessary.

Mr Albert previously worked as an ally whom Governor Emmanuel in 2018 called “The only man standing,” and “the only senator speaking for the whole Akwa Ibom State in the senate,” for not defecting to the APC.

After the defection of Mr Akpabio to the APC following the former governor’s fallout with his successor, the state witnessed a political crisis that saw five members of the House of Assembly, who had joined Mr Akpabio in the APC, attempting to impeach the governor. Mr Albert took the matter to the floor of the National Assembly.

“There is nowhere in the history of our democracy that a five-member House of Assembly can impeach the speaker and go ahead to impeach the governor,” he said during a senate plenary.

Four years later, the two allies fell out after Mr Albert defected to the YPP where he picked the governorship ticket and became the major challenger to Governor Emmanuel’s preferred successor , Umo Eno of the PDP.

“Sympathy Votes”

Some members of the opposition YPP in the state have described Mr Albert’s imprisonment as “politically motivated.” No one has shown any evidence to support that claim.

“His imprisonment is politically motivated but I am sure that Mr Albert will be the next governor of the state. The Court of Appeal will definitely see that he was not guilty as charged,” a leader of the party in the state, Ekanem Brown, told PREMIUM TIMES.

Mr Brown claimed the conviction was aimed at ensuring the defections of YPP members to the PDP but said the reverse was however the case.

Menyene Daniel, a member of APC supported Mr Brown’s claims that Mr Albert would win the election on “sympathy votes”.

A professor of law at the University of Uyo, Etefia Ekanem, argued that the matter would likely get to the Supreme Court but added that the positions of the two courts may not come before the election in 2023.

Mr Ekanem said under Section 182 (2) of the Constitution, appealing the conviction means Mr Albert is eligible to contest the election. He said the problem could lie with what happens if he wins.

“If he wins and the appeal continues (at the Supreme Court) that means the moment he’s inaugurated all actions would be stayed until he completes his term because legal proceedings cannot be taken against a sitting governor,” he said.

“What would happen in this situation would present a novelty condition in the country which may in one way or the other affect legal development in Nigeria.”

One-Horse Race

The court outcome has unsettled politicians in the South-south state.

The governorship race was led by Messrs Albert and Eno after the court nullified the governorship primary of the crisis-ridden APC in the state.

With the apparent exit of Mr Albert, the election will be decided between Mr Eno of the PDP who is backed by the state government, and John Akpanudoedeghe of the New Nigeria Peoples Party.

A lawyer, Ekemini Udim, said Mr Akpanudoedeghe, a former minister, may not have the needed support to win. Still, some members of the opposition parties who feel Mr Albert’s conviction was influenced by the state government may want to express their grievance against the ruling party by voting for the NNPP candidate.

Mr Udim said the only alternative to avoiding what he called a one-horse race, would be for Mr Albert to secure an acquittal at the appeal court.

“Section 182 (d) of the Constitution makes it impossible for any convict to become the governor and that is the Constitution of the land,” he said.

Mr Albert’s wife thinks otherwise. Addressing her husband’s supporters in Etim Ekpo on Friday, she said no prison would stop the “wish of the people”.

“Senator Bassey Albert – OBA is still on the ballot. [He] will win and not be despaired. No prison is big enough to stop the yearning of the people,” she was quoted as saying.