The High Court in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, has sentenced Professor Ignatius Uduk to three years in prison for electoral fraud related to his role as Collation/Returning Officer for the Essien Udim State Constituency seat during the 2019 general elections.
After five years of prosecution, Justice Bassey Nkanang delivered the judgment on Wednesday, convicting Prof. Uduk on two out of three counts. He was sentenced to three years imprisonment on each count, to be served concurrently.
The case was brought by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), represented by Mr. Clement Onwuenwunor, SAN, while George N. Ezeugwu represented Prof. Uduk.
Prof. Uduk, a Professor of Human Kinetics at the University of Uyo (Uniuyo), appeared in court in a wheelchair and claimed that Uniuyo had forced him into retirement in 2020 due to the case. He also stated that his salary had been suspended since then and pleaded for leniency.
The court acquitted Prof. Uduk on Count 1, which involved the announcement of false election results, as documents provided by the prosecution indicated that he was coerced into announcing the results. However, on Count 2, which involved the publication of false election results, the court ruled that Prof. Uduk was no longer under coercion when he published the results and found him guilty.
Justice Nkanang also found Prof. Uduk guilty of perjury under Count 3.
At 70, I am going to prison. I was a professor in 2005, but the university forcefully retired me in 2020 because of this case,” the professor said, begging the court to pardon him.
The professor was INEC’s collation and returning officer for Essien Udim State Constituency in the 2019 general elections, where he falsified election results to the advantage of the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Nse Ntuen, then a political ally of Godswill Akpabio, who is now the Senate president.
Mr Uduk had called Mike Igini, then INEC resident electoral commissioner (REC), to inform him that there was violence at the collation centre and that he had been chased out of the centre
In his post-judgment comments, Mr. Onwuenwunor emphasized the significance of the case in ensuring credibility in Nigeria’s electoral process. He noted that the case had been initiated by the former INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner, Mike Igini, and supported by the then chairman against those who committed electoral infractions.
“This judgment will serve as a deterrent to others who may be engaged by INEC in the future and attempt to sabotage the electoral process for selfish reasons,” Onwuenwunor said.
The Daily Crucible reports that on March 10, 2019, Prof. Uduk had submitted a handwritten note detailing the incident at the election, stating that he had been driven away from the collation center and was coerced into announcing the results.
However, some hours later, he declared the official result, even though here was no collation at any level of the election process.
Prof. Uduk later validated the false results before the Election Tribunal, and INEC filed charges against him. He had avoided court appearances on several occasions, presenting a forged medical report claiming illness, which was later disproven.
Mr. Onwuenwunor also expressed regret that the beneficiary of Prof. Uduk’s false election results was not prosecuted. He explained that the beneficiary had been removed from office based on a Court of Appeal judgment before the charges were filed.
George Nnaemeka Ezeugwu, the defense counsel, said they would review the judgment before deciding whether to appeal. “If it’s worth proceeding from here on appeal, we will. If not, we will move on,” Ezeugwu said.
