Nigeria, March 27 -- Despite contrary evidence, the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio, has denied that Peter Ogban, the university professor jailed for election fraud, rigged the election in favour of his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Mr Akpabio, the APC candidate in the Akwa Ibom North-West District 2019 election, was, however, defeated in the election by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Chris Ekpenyong, and his hope of returning to the Senate dashed.

A state High Court in Ikot Ekpene, Akwa Ibom State, on Thursday, found Mr Ogban, a professor of Soil Science at the University of Calabar, and a returning officer in the district election, guilty of "fraudulent manipulation of election results, p...