A judge of the State Superior Court in Uyo, Akwa Ibom Statehas recused himself from the electoral fraud lawsuit filed by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) against a Nigerian professor, Ignatius Uduk.
The judge, Bassey Nkanang, announced his decision on Wednesday during the hearing of the case.
Mr. Uduk, through his lawyer, Abasiodiong Ekpenyong, accused Mr. Nkanang of bias and asked him to withdraw from the case.
Mr. Uduk is Professor of Human Kinetics at the University of UyoAkwa Ibom State.
He is being prosecuted by INEC for alleged illegal generation of electoral results during the 2019 general elections in Akwa Ibom.
The professor accused the judge of bias after he dismissed his no-case filing.
the contests
After the court ruled that the defendant has a case to answer, the case was adjourned to four trial days (June 23, 28, 29 and 30) for the defendant to present his defence.
However, the defense attorney notified the prosecution attorney of his intention to appeal the sentence. He invited the prosecution’s attorney, Clement Onwuenwunor, to come to court on May 11.
Mr. Ekpenyong told PREMIUM TIMES that the prosecution’s attorney on that date (May 11) filed a motion to reduce the time.
“The request of the prosecution attorney was heard,” Ekpenyong said.
“I told the judge that I have a request for leave to appeal, but the judge did not listen to me, but granted a motion for reduction of time presented by the prosecution on the grounds that the prosecution attorney wants to receive medical treatment only in one of the cases. the four days that the case was suspended.
“To show how biased the judge was, he forgot to vacate the other three days.”
Mr. Nkanang, after granting the request of the prosecution attorney, took the matter to May 18 for Mr. Uduk to present his defence.
Ekpenyong said he had questioned the new date because it was not comfortable for him and would not give defense witnesses time to prepare, but the court imposed it on him.
He files an appeal, asks the judge to recuse himself
Dissatisfied with the reduction in the time granted to the attorney for the prosecution, Mr. Ekpenyong appealed to the Calabar Court of Appeal, Cross River State.
Mr. Ekpenyong argued that the court was wrong to shorten the time for the prosecution’s attorney on health grounds without evidence.
He argued that there was no reason for the court to reach that conclusion and accused the judge of being more interested in the health of the prosecution attorney than in the defendant’s freedom.
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“My client (defendant) had informed me for a long time that he had lost confidence in the court, but I convinced him that when he is convinced that the court will not do justice to the matter, I will file a lawsuit.
“Today it was manifestly clear: how can an appeal be filed and the judge (lower court) is making a decision on the same appeal? We challenge that the court should not have abridged this case until June 18.
“I have filed an appeal in the Court of Appeal on the matter: by bringing that matter, the trial court should not sit down on the matter again, as the continuation of the case will affect the hearing of the matter in the Court of Appeal.
“Having told the court that he had appealed the matter to the Court of Appeal, the judge wanted to continue. The judge overruled me and asked my clients to defend themselves and I said no, there can be no justice in this case, so I asked the judge to recuse himself,” Ekpenyong said.
The prosecutor’s reaction
The prosecution’s attorney, Mr. Onwuenwunor, in his reaction described it as a setback, but said it did not deter them.
“Our position in court was that it was a trick by the accused person to avoid justice and the court saw everything we said that there was no basis to suspend or pause this process.
“The court asked the defendant to stand up for himself and suddenly the only response we got through the defense was that they no longer trusted the court and that the judge should recuse himself.”
Onwuenwunor said the court granted his time reduction request on health grounds without evidence because the defense attorney did not object.
He told PREMIUM TIMES on Friday that he discussed and agreed with the defense attorney about the medical appointment he had on June 23 before submitting the time reduction request.
The case would now start anew with a new judge to be assigned by the chief judge of Akwa Ibom state.
The electoral fraud case against Uduk began in 2020.