An Akwa Ibom State High Court sitting in Ikot Ekpene has sentenced Peter Ogban, a professor of soil science at the University of Calabar, to three years in prison for manipulation election results.
Ogban was the returning officer in the Senatorial Election held in Akwa Ibom north-west in 2019.
On count one, the presiding judge, Augustine Odokwo ordered him to pay a fine of N100,000 while on count two he was sentenced to three years imprisonment without an option of a fine.
The university lecturer, before his sentencing, pleaded for mercy from the judge.
Justice Odokwo, who described the case as a novel one, told the lecturer that there was not much he could do other than to let the law take its course.
He said the prosecution was able to prove its case beyond any reasonable doubt.
The Univerity Don was prosecuted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The court found him guilty of altering the results of the election to favour the All Progressives Congress (APC) against the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
