Ata Ikiddeh, a close friend and former aide to Senate President Godswill Akpabio, has made false claims that a professor jailed for election fraud rigged the 2019 Akwa Ibom North-West Senatorial District election in favor of Mr. Akpabio’s opponent, Chris Ekpenyong. This misinformation was published in a report by Premium Times, a leading Nigerian online newspaper, which fact-checked and debunked the claims.
![](https://thenigerialawyer.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/TheNigerialawyer-WhatsApp-Channel1.jpg")
Mr. Ikiddeh, who resides in London and previously served as an aide to Mr. Akpabio during his tenure as Akwa Ibom State governor, made the allegations in a Facebook post on February 15, 2025. He claimed that Professor Peter Ogban, the returning officer for the 2019 senatorial election, conspired with the then-Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) of Akwa Ibom State, Mike Igini, to falsify results in favor of Mr. Ekpenyong of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
“It was alleged that Professor Ogban connived with the resident electoral commissioner of Akwa Ibom State, Mike Igini, to falsify the results in favour of Chris Ekpenyong against Senator Godswill Akpabio,” Mr. Ikiddeh wrote. He added, “Prof. Ogban, it was said, transported collated results from Ikot Ekpene senatorial district to Uyo, where he mutilated the results. It was the falsification of these results which led to Senator Chris Ekpenyong being presumptuously announced the winner of that election.”
However, Premium Times has fact-checked these claims and found them to be false. Contrary to Mr. Ikiddeh’s assertions, Professor Ogban was convicted and jailed in March 2021 for rigging the election in favor of Mr. Akpabio, the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate.
During court proceedings, it was established that Professor Ogban manipulated results in Oruk Anam and Etim Ekpo local government areas to give the APC an unfair advantage. For instance, he reduced the PDP’s votes by 5,000 and increased the APC’s votes by the same margin in Oruk Anam. Two INEC witnesses, John Enoidem and Itemobong Ekaidem, testified that the results declared by Professor Ogban did not match the figures collated at the constituency level.
The court sentenced Professor Ogban to three years in prison for electoral fraud. Despite this, Mr. Akpabio and his allies have repeatedly attempted to rewrite the narrative, claiming that the professor rigged the election for his opponent.
In January 2023, Mr. Akpabio made similar false claims during a campaign rally in Oruk Anam, stating, “You people voted overwhelmingly for me, but some people colluded to rob me of my victory. The professor who was used to rob me of that victory in 2019 is now in jail.”
Premium Times has consistently debunked these claims, emphasizing that the evidence presented in court clearly shows that Professor Ogban manipulated the election results in Mr. Akpabio’s favor.
The recent resurgence of these false claims coincides with the conviction of another professor, Ignatius Uduk, who was jailed on February 5, 2025, for rigging the 2019 Essien Udim State Constituency election in favor of Nse Ntuen, an APC candidate and ally of Mr. Akpabio.
Mr. Ikiddeh’s Facebook post has garnered support from some of Mr. Akpabio’s loyalists, including Udori Archi, who commented, “This is apt. God bless u for killing the wrong narrative.” Another supporter, Blessing Akpabio, praised Mr. Ikiddeh for challenging the perception of Mike Igini as an upright electoral official.
Despite these attempts to distort the facts, Premium Times has reaffirmed that the evidence against Professor Ogban and the court’s judgment remain clear: the election fraud was committed to benefit Mr. Akpabio, not his opponent.
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