Court jails another Nigerian professor for election fraud

A State High Court in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, on Wednesday, sentenced a Nigerian professor to three years in prison for perjury and publishing false election results.

Mr Uduk, a professor of Human Kinetics at the University of Uyo, was prosecuted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on charges of perjury and announcing and publishing false results during the 2019 general elections in Essien Udim State Constituency, where he served as the returning officer.

His conviction and sentencing came four years after his colleague, Peter Ogban, a professor of Soil Science at the University of Calabar, was jailed for three years for a similar offence.

Mr Ogban, who has served his three-year sentence, was the INEC returning officer for the Akwa Ibom North-West Senatorial District election in 2019 in which Godswill Akpabio, who is now the Senate President, was defeated by Christopher Ekpenyong, a former deputy governor of Akwa Ibom.

Mr Ekpenyong was the Peoples Democratic Party candidate in the poll, while Mr Akpabio was the All Progressives Congress candidate.

Mr Ogban was convicted and jailed for falsifying the election result to help Mr Akpabio in the election, but the Senate president has repeatedly disowned the professor.

Mike Igini, a former INEC resident electoral commissioner (REC) in Akwa Ibom, initiated both suits and secured Mr Ogban’s conviction before his (Igini) retirement from INEC in 2022 after serving his last five years as REC in Akwa Ibom.

Backstory, judgment

Mr Uduk was first arraigned in December 2020 after an arrest warrant was issued on him a previous month over repeated failures to appear in court for the commencement of his trial.

Join the Premium Times WhatsApp Community For Quick Access To News and Happenings Around You.

Open in WhatsApp

The professor had pleaded not guilty to the three charges slammed on him by Nigeria’s election commission.

The case witnessed a series of delays because of several factors, including a change of defence counsel and the defendant collapsing in the dock during cross-examination by the prosecution counsel.

Also, the defendant, at one point, accused the judge of bias and asked the judge to recuse himself, a relief the judge granted. The judge returned the case file to the state chief judge, who reassigned the matter to the same judge for continuation.

The judgment was scheduled for 29 January but was adjourned till today (Wednesday, 5 February) after the defendant and his lawyer failed to appear in court on health grounds.

The judge, Bassey Nkanang, revoked the professor’s earlier bail and issued a fresh arrest warrant on him, following the prosecution counsel’s request.

Decked in brown cassock, Mr Uduk was brought into the court in a wheelchair shortly before the prosecution and defence counsels announced their appearance.

READ ALSO: Election Fraud: Judge orders Nigerian professor’s arrest

Delivering judgment on Wednesday, Justice Nkanang held that the prosecution counsel, Clement Onwuewunor, has discharged the burden of proof that the defendant published false election results when he served as a collation/returning officer.

Citing Section 123 (4) of the 2010 Electoral Act as amended, which states that “Any person who announces or publishes an election result knowing same to be false or which is at variance with the signed certificate of return commits an offence and is liable on conviction to 36 months imprisonment,” the judge held that the prosecution had established his case against the defendant.

In the third charge of perjury, the judge cited Section 118 of the Criminal Code Law, CAP 38, Laws of Akwa Ibom State 2000, where the offence is defined as: “Any person in any judicial proceeding or for the purpose of instituting any judicial proceeding, knowingly gives false testimony touching any matter which is material to any question then depending on that proceeding, or intended to be raised in that proceeding, is guilty of an offence which is called perjury.”

The judge discharged and acquitted the defendant on count one—announcement of false election result—but convicted him on counts two and three: publication of false election results and perjury. Therefore, the judge sentenced the professor to three years for count two and the same prison terms for count three. Both terms are to run concurrently.