The High Court in Uyo, Akwa Ibom, has sentenced Professor Ignatius Uduk of the University of Uyo (UNIUYO) to three years in prison for electoral fraud committed during the 2019 general elections.
Uduk, a Professor of Human Kinetics, served as a Collation/Returning Officer for the Essien Udim State Constituency in March 2019. He had been facing trial on three charges: announcing false results, publishing false results, and perjury.
Justice Bassey Nkanang, the trial judge, acquitted Uduk on the first charge but found him guilty on the second and third charges. As a result, he was sentenced to three years in prison for each of the two counts, with the sentences to run concurrently.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), under Mike Igini as the Resident Electoral Commissioner for Akwa Ibom State, had initiated the prosecution against Uduk on amended charges of abandoning duties, announcing and publishing fake election results, and perjury.
In a similar case, another UNIUYO professor, Peter Ogban, was convicted and sentenced to three years in prison under similar circumstances. However, Uduk’s trial faced multiple adjournments, which led to a change of the presiding judge.
Justice Nkanang’s ruling marks the conclusion of a five-year legal battle by INEC to address electoral fraud in Akwa Ibom State during the 2019 general elections.
