Many Nigerians, including journalists, erroneously think Mr Ogban has served or is still serving his jail term.
Peter Ogban, the disgraced Nigerian professor convicted and sentenced to three years’ imprisonment for rigging a 2019 senatorial election for the country’s Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, has been walking free instead of serving his jail term, PREMIUM TIMES can authoritatively report.
Many Nigerians, including journalists, erroneously think Mr Ogban has served or is still serving his jail term.
Mr Akpabio, a former governor of Akwa Ibom State, is a member of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and a strong ally of President Bola Tinubu.
The Court of Appeal, Calabar, on 30 April, upheld the lower court conviction and the three-year jail term for Mr Ogban, a professor of soil science at the University of Calabar and a returning officer in the 2019 general elections in Akwa Ibom North-West District.
A State High Court in Uyo, on 25 March 2021, found Mr Ogban guilty of announcing fake election results in two local government areas—Oruk Anam and Etim Ekpo—in Mr Akpabio’s favour and sentenced him to jail the same day.
Mr Ogban was taken from the courtroom in Uyo to a federal prison in Ikot Ekpene, still in Akwa Ibom, to serve his prison term.
However, the professor spent only about four months in prison as another judge, Pius Idiong of the State High Court, Ikot Ekpene, granted him bail on 12 July 2021, despite the opposition from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), which prosecuted the professor.
