The All Progressives Congress (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.
Nabena was reacting to a court judgment sentencing Prof. Peter Ogban of the University of Calabar (UNICAL), to three years imprisonment for electoral fraud.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that a High Court in Akwa-Ibom, on Thursday, sentenced Ogban, to three years in imprisonment for the offence.
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 Akpabio and 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 spokesperson for APC 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 added 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.
Ogban was charged with manipulating election results from two Local Government Areas (LGAs)- Oruk Anam and Etim Ekpo.
Akpabio, currently Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, was the APC candidate at the election seeking a return to the Senate, after he defected from the PDP.
The PDP candidate, Mr Chris Ekpenyong, a former Deputy Governor of Akwa Ibom, defeated Akpabio at the election.