His lawyers said the court will rely on appeal and medical records reasons to give bail to incarcerated professors.
The Uyo High Court in Akwa Ibom State on Thursday gave bail to Nigerian professor Ignatius Uduk who was jailed for three years for election fraud.
Uduk, a professor of human dynamics at UYO University, was charged by the Independent National Election Commission (INEC) for three charges: announcement of false election results, announcement of false results, and perjury in the 2019 general election.
The professor was Inek’s collation and return officer in the 2019 general election and an officer in the Eshen Udim constituency, where he falsified the election results into the advantages of NSE NTUEN for all Progressive Congress (APC) candidates.
Defence counsel George Ezeugou told reporters shortly after the verdict they would study the verdict before taking the next step – to oppose the verdict.
Uduk appeared in court for his conviction and sentence after his previous bail was revoked and a new bench warrant was issued against him. He was brought to court in a wheelchair.
During the bail hearing on Thursday, Uduk expanded his defense assistant to include senior Nigerian advocate Kal Ume and former Senator Ita Enan, with Daniel Nawike representing INEC.
The court granted Mr Uduk a similar total of 2.2 million n and two guarantees. The court said the guarantee must be a resident of its jurisdiction.
Additionally, the professor should leave his international passport in court and not move outside the court’s jurisdiction within the bail period.
After the client was granted bail, he told reporters that Enan was taking steps to meet the conditions of bail.
Speaking to Premium Times on Thursday on the phone, Enann said he had filed an appeal.
“We appealed. The basis for the appeal is genuine and strong and likely to succeed. We also relied on the professor’s medical report that he must be alive to appeal,” he said.
Backstory
The professor was first arrested in December 2020 after an arrest warrant was issued to him the previous month for repeated failures to appear in court to begin his trial.
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He collapsed on the dock at one point and was rushed to the hospital for treatment.
The professor had pleaded not guilty to three charges that accused him by the Nigerian Election Commission, but after his conviction he begged the judge for generosity, citing his old age (ages over 70) and his health.
His conviction and sentence came four years after his colleague, Peter Ogban, a professor of soil science at Calabar University, was jailed for three years for rigging the election of Godswill Akpabio.
Ogban, who was sentenced to three years in prison, was the INEC return officer for the 2019 Akwai Bom Northwest District Election. There, Christopher Ekpegnion, former lieutenant governor of Akwaibom, defeated Akpabio, who is now Senator.
Ekpenyong was the People’s Democratic candidate in the polls, and Akpabio was the APC candidate.
Ogban was convicted and imprisoned for forging election results to help Akpabio, but the Senate president repeatedly denied the professor.
Mike Igini, former INEC resident election commissioner (REC) of Akwa Ibom, has served the past five years as Rec with Akwa Ibom before launching both lawsuits before his retirement from the INEC in 2022, securing the conviction of Mr Ogban.
