Electoral Fraud: Court Has Vindicated APC, Akpabio, Says Nabena
- The jail term handed to a professor from the University of Calabar is still a trending topic in Nigeria
- APC chieftain, Yekini Nabena, says the PDP should bury its head on shame after the court verdict
- Nabena stated that the PDP used the university professor to ig out Senator Godswill Akpabio in Akwa Ibom state
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The deputy national publicity secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Yekini Nabena, has declared that the court has finally vindicated the minister of Niger Delta affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio and the ruling party having handed three years jailed term to Prof. Peter Ogban.
Ogban, a professor of soil science at the University of Calabar, UNICAL, was recently sentenced to prison for manipulating the result of Akwa-Ibom North-west senatorial election.
Ogban, who was the returning officer in the senatorial election in Akwa Ibom north-west in 2019, was also fined N100,000 fine by the court.
The UNICAL professor was prosecuted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Source: Twitter
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Reacting to the development through a statement sent to Legit.ng on Friday, March 26, Nabena said the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) elements who made use of the UNICAL professor to rig out the APC's candidate at the said election should now bury their heads in shame.
According to Nabena, the senatorial election was fraudulently postponed by the returning officer against the wish of the APC and its candidate, and all the complaints made by Senator Akpabio and the APC were not given attention.
Nabena said it is on record that during the election the minister asked INEC to redeploy the Resident Electoral Commissioner in Akwa Ibom state when he (Akpabio) noticed that the PDP were using some officials of the electoral empire against him.
The APC chieftain, however, condemned the manipulative strategy being employed by the PDP and its agents, particularly in Akwa Ibom state to discredit the ruling party and Senator Akpabio as a result of the court's pronouncement.
The statement called on Nigerians to disregard the attempt by the PDP and its sponsored agents to misinform the general public on the real issue, the interpretation of the court judgment, and the integrity challenge bothering on the PDP.
Part of the statement read:
“This judgement is significant in the sense that others like Professor Ogban in the system should henceforth know that under the present APC administration, justice will always prevail.”
Legit.ng had earlier reported that the professor was arrested for manipulating election results to when he was the returning officer in the senatorial election in Akwa Ibom north-west in 2019.
The court found Ogban guilty of altering the results and sentenced him to three years in prison for his actions.
Recall that the PDP had earlier reacted to the verdict of the court via its spokesman, Kola Ologbodiyan.
PDP commended the court's judgment, saying it would serve as a deterrent to others who may want to manipulate future elections.
Jerrywright Ukwu is an Abuja-based senior political/defence correspondent at Legit.ng. He is a graduate of the Nigerian Institute of Journalism, Lagos and the International Institute of Journalism in Abuja. He is also a member of the Nigeria Union of Journalists. He spends his leisure-time reading history books. He can be reached via email at jerrywright39@yahoo.com.
Source: Legit.ng
