The Court of Appeal in Calabar has delivered a damning verdict against Professor Peter Ogban, affirming his conviction and three-year jail sentence for manipulating the 2019 senatorial election results in favour of Senate President Godswill Akpabio.
In a scathing ruling, Justice Joseph Oyewole, delivering the lead judgement on behalf of the three-man panel, declared that the title of a university professor “is not one easily attainable and is certainly not a rank attained by fools.”
Ogban, a professor of soil science at the University of Uyo, served as the returning officer in Akwa Ibom North-West during the 2019 general elections.
He was found guilty by the Akwa Ibom State High Court in Ikot Ekpene on charges of electoral fraud—specifically falsifying and announcing fake results in two local government areas: Oruk Anam and Etim Ekpo.
Despite his conviction on 25 March 2021, the disgraced professor remains free, highlighting what critics have called the failures of Nigeria’s criminal justice system.
Justice Oyewole pointedly rejected Ogban’s defence that he altered the figures based on “verbal pronouncements” made by collation officers, rather than the written results submitted.
“The figures involved were consistent in the manipulation… The defence was rejected by the lower court and I can appreciate why this was so,” he said.
The appellate court affirmed that Ogban deliberately falsified the figures to favour the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Akpabio, who had recently defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at the time but ultimately lost the election to PDP’s Chris Ekpenyong.
Justice Peter Obiorah, concurring with the lead judgment, said Ogban “betrayed public trust” and described his actions as “despicable” and “shameful.”
“If a person of his status can be involved in such despicable activity… one wonders what type of knowledge he will be imparting on the students under his care,” Justice Obiorah stated, adding that Ogban deserved “no pity or mercy.”
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had prosecuted the case, presenting evidence from two collation officers whose figures Ogban altered.
The court dismissed all four grounds of Ogban’s appeal, including claims of denial of fair hearing, and upheld the original conviction.
Justice Oyewole concluded, “This appeal is devoid of merit, and it is accordingly dismissed.”
