Nigerian professor jailed for election fraud appeals for state pardon

A Nigerian professor jailed on Wednesday for falsifying election results recounted his ordeal to a judge since his trial began in 2020.

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

The judge, Bassey Nkanang, acquitted the professor for announcing false results but convicted him of publishing false results and perjury.

“This is my first offence. I am appealing to the court to give me a soft landing either by fine or state pardon,” the professor, who was brought to the court in a wheelchair, told the judge.

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“At 70, I am going to prison. I was a professor in 2005, but the university forcefully retired me in 2020 because of this case,” the professor said, begging the court to pardon him.

Sentencing

The professor was INEC’s collation and returning officer for Essien Udim State Constituency in the 2019 general elections, where he falsified election results to the advantage of the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Nse Ntuen, then a political ally of Godswill Akpabio, who is now the Senate president.

Mr Uduk had called Mike Igini, then INEC resident electoral commissioner (REC), to inform him that there was violence at the collation centre and that he had been chased out of the centre.

However, 24 hours later, Mr Uduk published the election results and testified before the Election Petition Tribunal, prompting INEC to file criminal charges against him.

After listening to Mr Uduk’s leniency plea, Mr Nkanang held that the prosecution counsel, Clement Onwuewunor, 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, an offence punishable with 14 years imprisonment, 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.”

Harkening to the professor’s leniency plea, the judge reduced the prison terms to three years each for both charges and ruled that they will run concurrently beginning Wednesday, 5 February, when the judgement is given.

Addressing reporters outside the court, the prosecution and defence counsels expressed satisfaction with the judgement.

When asked if he would appeal the verdict, the defence counsel, George Ezeugwu, said he has to study the judgement before taking the next step.

Backstory

The jailed professor 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.

READ ALSO: Court jails another Nigerian professor for election fraud

He had, on one occasion, collapsed at the dock and was rushed to a hospital for treatment.

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

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.

Mr 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.