Appeal court to rule on Ogban’s bail July 12

Presiding Judge of the Akwa Ibom State High Court 1 sitting in Ikot Ekpene, Justice Pius Idiong, has adjourned ruling in the case of alleged election fraud between the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and Prof. Peter Ogban to July 12, 2021.

This followed the submission of both counsels to INEC and the defendant, who was jailed for electoral fraud levelled against him but appealed for bail.
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Ogban was sentenced to 36 months imprisonment and asked to pay a fine of N100, 000 for counts two and one, after pleading for leniency.

However, he returned to court yesterday seeking bail on the grounds of ill health, citing tuberculosis and hypertension, as health challenges he was facing.

In his appeal, Counsel to Ogban, Kanu Agabi mentioned some basis for which his client should be granted bail to include the absence of a criminal record, a university teacher of repute and ill health, among others.

But Counsel to INEC, Clement Onwenwunor, opposed the bail application and filed a 21-paragraph counter-affidavit and argued that the applicant had lost his constitutional right to bail because he had been convicted.
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