CALABAR, Nigeria – The Court of Appeal sitting in Calabar has affirmed the conviction and three-year prison sentence of Professor Peter Ogban, a soil science lecturer at the University of Calabar, who was found guilty of manipulating election results during the 2019 general election.
The appellate court’s decision, announced on Wednesday, April 30, 2025, upholds a March 2021 judgment delivered by the Akwa Ibom State High Court, which sentenced Ogban to three years behind bars and imposed a ₦100,000 fine for electoral offences committed in the Akwa Ibom North-West senatorial district.
Ogban, who served as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) returning officer for the senatorial election, was convicted for altering and announcing false election results in favour of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to the detriment of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Among the beneficiaries of the manipulated results was Godswill Akpabio, then APC senatorial candidate and former governor of Akwa Ibom State.
During the initial trial, Ogban had claimed that he merely collated results submitted by polling officers and denied playing any role in falsifying figures.
The trial court rejected his defence, finding him culpable in tampering with figures during collation.
The appeal court’s ruling reinforces a growing trend of holding academics accountable for electoral misconduct.
In February 2025, another professor, Ignatius Uduk of the University of Uyo, was also sentenced to three years in prison for falsifying results in the 2019 state house of assembly election, also in Akwa Ibom North-West.
