…Bassey Akpan was convicted on a six-count charge bordering on money laundering and receipt of exotic cars worth N204m
Mixed eactions have continued to trail the incarceration of the governorship candidate of the Young Progressives Party(YPP) Akwa Ibom State, Senator Bassey Akpan.
Sen Akpan, who is also representing Uyo Senatorial district, is cooling his feet at the Ikot Ekpene Correctional Centre for money laundering and graft.
Akpan was convicted by Justice Agatha Okeke of the Federal High Court Uyo on a six-count charge bordering on money laundering and receipt of exotic cars worth two hundred and four million naira (N204m) from a businessman, Jide Omokoro when he was the Finance Commissioner.
The vehicles received by the senator included: a BMW X5 (Bulletproof) worth N50 million; in December 2012 another Infinity QX 56(bulletproof) worth N45 million and 4 other luxury vehicles worth millions of naira each.
The senator never denied the allegations as he explained that those vehicles were given to him as gifts for his campaigns in 2014.
In line with the provisions of Section 22 of the Money Laundering Prohibition Act 2021 and in contravention of section 15(12)(d) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act of 2011, as (amended) and punishable by section 15(3) of the same Act, the Senator who was found guilty by the presiding judge was sentenced seven years in prison in each of the charge which would run concurrently, day and night.
Though the senator had already appealed the judgement.
Meanwhile, five days behind bars, Akpan’s discourse has continued to resonate across the corners of the state from both the elite and the ordinary citizens.
Until his incarceration, Sen. Akpan popularly known as OBA was a force to reckon with and was bulldozing the nooks and crannies of the State gaining more supporters ahead of the 2023 elections.
Earlier, he raised the alarm that Akwa Ibom Governor, Mr Udom Emmanuel planned to commit him into prison by bringing up his money laundering case so that it would pave the way for the emergence of his anointed candidate, Pastor Umo Eno of the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP).
Gov Emmanuel has however since denied the allegation and warned peddlers against roping him into Akpan’s ordeal, stressing that he was not even a governor when the case was instituted against him (Sen Akpan) by the EFCC.
The governor lamented, “I entered Abuja, everybody was calling me saying this candidate said you want to imprison him. This matter came even before I became the governor. I don’t know the facts of the case, I’m not a judge, I don’t know anything. Those people that have cases with EFCC, should go and sort out their cases and just leave blackmail and propaganda.”
Gov Emmanuel’s media aides, Rev Richard Peters said, ”a cursory look into the character of Gov Udom Emmanuel clearly shows that he doesn’t play politics of bitterness and hatred. The Governor is a man that believes in the rule of law and respects democratic principles.
“It amounts to gross ignorance and it is strange to attempt to perceive the governor as a vindictive clown, an attempt that has already failed a reality test. Governor Udom Emmanuel will continue to play politics with human face and good conscience and no amount of deceit peddled around can change this glaring fact.”
But, the Chairman, Forum of Civil Societies Organisations in Akwa Ibom, Dr Harry Udoh said OBA’s incarceration was not devoid of political undertones, saying that the manner in which he was thrown into prison had invariably won the sympathy of the public and would make some indecisive voters to vote him.
“It is apparent that Distinguished Senator Obong Bassey Albert’s incarceration is politically motivated. The same government that took out several injunctions against the EFCC and ICPC from investigating violations and criminal abuse of office by the immediate past government of which the incumbent was part of, is the same one that has surreptitiously procured the incarceration of OBA.
“Rather than the negative impact that the orchestrators of the invidious act had expected, it has rather accentuated the profile of the man, and drawn many undecided voters to his side. The incarceration is helping his course, more than anything else,” Udoh noted.
He expressed hope that Sen Akpan would get reprieve soon saying, “I suppose his lawyers would know what to do. I believe he’ll get reprieve sooner than later.”
However, the continued stay of the senator at the Correctional Service is raising a lot of controversies in the state, especially on his fate to appear on the ballot at the 2023 elections
A legal practitioner in Akwa Ibom State, Ekemini Udim in an interview said in legal reality, the judgement has affected OBA’s chances of winning the elections even though INEC does not have the constitutional backing to stop or disqualify him or any other candidate from contesting the election.
According to him, “INEC on its own does not have the constitutional powers to disqualify candidates. This judgement has partly made OBA a convict in court of competent jurisdiction. Even though the court did not pronounce that, ‘you are hereby disqualified from contesting election because that was not the focus of the court,’ the conviction alone can ruin his political career.”
He expressed hope that the judgement could be upturned at the Appeal Court if his team of lawyers are able to present a superior argument.
“If the grounds of appeal are well couched and the facts support a discharge, then certainly he can be discharged and acquitted at the appellate court, but if the facts are so bad, that is where there is a problem because it is the fact that will be used in making appeal. It’s all about having a superior argument and what his legal team has to offer,” he noted.
The supporters of the incacerated senator are however optimistic that the senator will soon be released and emerge victorious at the 2023 polls.
