Ata Ikiddeh, a former aide to Senate President Godswill Akpabio, has pushed false claims regarding the 2019 Akwa Ibom North-West Senatorial District election.
Ikiddeh alleged that Prof. Peter Ogban, who was jailed for election fraud, rigged the election in favour of Akpabio’s opponent, Chris Ekpenyong. These claims have been debunked by Premium Times.
Ikiddeh, who lives in London and previously served under Akpabio as Akwa Ibom State governor, made the allegations in a Facebook post on 15 February 2025.
He accused Professor Ogban, the 2019 election’s returning officer, of conspiring with the then-Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) of Akwa Ibom State, Mike Igini, to alter results for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate.
“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,” 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 fact-checked these claims and confirmed them to be false. Court records show that Ogban was convicted in March 2021 for rigging the election in favour of Akpabio, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
During the trial, it was revealed that Ogban manipulated votes in Oruk Anam and Etim Ekpo local government areas, reducing the PDP’s votes by 5,000 and increasing the APC’s by the same amount in Oruk Anam.
Two officials of the Independent National Election Commission (INEC), John Enoidem and Itemobong Ekaidem, testified that the results announced by Ogban did not match the actual figures recorded at the constituency level.
As a result, the court sentenced Ogban to three years in prison for electoral fraud. Despite this conviction, Akpabio and his allies have continued to claim that the election was rigged against him.
In January 2023, during a campaign rally in Oruk Anam, Akpabio reiterated this narrative, saying, “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’ reports have debunked these assertions, reaffirming that the court’s judgment and available evidence clearly indicate that Professor Ogban manipulated results to benefit Akpabio, not Ekpenyong.
The revival of these false claims follows the recent conviction of another professor, Ignatius Uduk, who was jailed on February 5, 2025 for rigging the 2019 Essien Udim State Constituency election in favour of APC candidate Nse Ntuen, an Akpabio ally.
Ikiddeh’s Facebook post has drawn support from Akpabio’s loyalists, including Udori Archi, who commented, “This is apt. God bless u for killing the wrong narrative.”
Another supporter, Blessing Akpabio, commended Ikiddeh for challenging the perception of Mike Igini as an upright electoral official.
Despite these efforts to distort the facts, Premium Times has maintained that the judicial evidence remains unchanged: the election fraud was committed to benefit Akpabio, not his opponent.