By Nehru Odeh
It is the first of its kind in these shores but true. Peter Ogban, a professor of soil science at the University of Calabar will spend the next three years in prison.
He has been sentenced by a high Court sitting in Ikot-Ekpene, Akwa Ibom State for fraudulent manipulation of election results.
Ogban was the returning officer in the senatorial election in Akwa Ibom North-West in 2019.
Ogban , who was prosecuted by the Independent National Electoral Commission, was found guilty of publishing and announcing false results in two local government areas – Oruk Anam and Etim Ekpo – to favour the All Progressives Congress, APC, against its main rival, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
The Court found him guilty of the two count charges leveled against him.
On count one, the presiding judge, Augustine Odoko ordered him to pay a fine of N100,000 while on count two he was sentenced to three years imprisonment without option of fine.
Ogban had earlier told the court in a previous session how he falsified the results of the election to give the APC an unfair advantage over the PDP.
Godswill Akpabio, the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, who was seeking a return to the senate after defecting from the PDP, was the APC candidate in the election.
But he was defeated by the PDP candidate, Chris Ekpenyong, a former deputy governor in Akwa Ibom State, in the election that was marred by violence.