The Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio and All Progressives Congress have heaped coal of fire on the Peoples Democratic Party over the imprisonment of University of Calabar’s Professor on election fraud, agreeing that Akpabio has been vindicated by the ruling.
Professor Peter Ogban was on Thursday, March 25 sentenced to three years by Ikot Ekpene High Court in Akwa Ibom State for committing election fraud during the 2019 National Assembly election in Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District.
The APC says justice will always prevail under the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.
Mr Yekini Nabena, APC Deputy National Publicity Secretary, said this in a statement on Friday in Abuja, while reacting to a court judgment sentencing Prof. Peter Ogban of the University of Calabar (UNICAL), to three years imprisonment for electoral fraud.
The convict who manipulated the result of 2019 Akwa Ibom North West Senatorial poll against the APC, was the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Returning Officer.
“The court has finally vindicated the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Sen. Godswill Akpabioand the ruling party having handed a three-year jail term to Ogban, used to manipulate the result of Akwa-Ibom North-West Senatorial election against APC.
“Ogban, who was the returning officer at the senatorial election in Akwa Ibom North-West in 2019, was also fined N100, 000, the UNICAL professor was prosecuted by INEC,’’Nabena said.
He added that the agents of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who used the UNICAL professor to rig out the APC’s candidate at the election should bury their heads in shame.
According to Nabena, the Akwa Ibom North-West senatorial election was fraudulently postponed by the returning officer against the wish of the APC and its candidate.
He added that all complaints made by Akpabio and the APC were not given attention.
The APC spokesperson recalled that during the election, the minister advised INEC to redeploy the state Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) after noticing that the PDP was using officials of the commission against him.
He noted that Akpabio had condemned the manipulative strategy employed by the PDP and its agents, particularly in Akwa Ibom to discredit the APC which resulted to the court’s pronouncement.
Nabena called on Nigerians to disregard the attempt by the PDP and its sponsored agents to misinform the general public on the real issues and the court verdict.
“We celebrate the court’s pronouncement jailing one of the agents of the PDP used against our candidate (Akpabio) in the Senatorial election in Akwa Ibom North-West in 2019.
“We always believe that if a lie goes for 20 years, the truth will meet up with it one day.
“This judgment is significant in the sense that others like Ogban in the system, should henceforth know that under the present APC-led Federal Government, justice will always prevail,’’ he said.
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