Pressure is mounting on the Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike to intervene in the case involving Senator Obong Bassey Albert Akpan, popularly called OBA.
OBA, the governorship candidate of the YPP, is currently serving his jail term at the Ikot Ekpene Correctional Centre after a federal high court in Uyo sentenced him to 42 years imprisonment. But he is to serve seen years on each of the six count charges which will be running concurrently.
While his colleagues in the senate have taken steps to amend the Administration of Criminal Justice Act to allow persons convicted by the lower court to be presumed innocent until conclusion of appeal, loyalists of the senator are pushing from all fronts to secure his release through the same judicial system.
The belief is that Wike has a large heart, resources and connections across the country, to be able to pull this through for OBA. Another school of thought believes that Wike could wade in as a way of hitting the Akwa Ibom State governor, Udom Emmanuel one of his latest enemies.
Wike has been at war with Udom for his continued support for Atiku Abubakar, the PDP presidential candidate. Although the Akwa Ibom State government has explained in various fora, that the governor or the state government had nothing to do with the conviction of OBA, some members of the Akwa Ibom public still hold a contrary view.
A former Abia State governor, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu who had been sentenced to 12 years in prison for related issue of fraud, but he was to be set free by the Supreme Court after a while.
OBA’s supporters believe that the same fate can befall OBA. However, some others are of the view that even if OBA was not set free before next year’s election, he still could win the election from prison, just like Senator Iyiola Omisore and Senator Theodore Orji.
How Omisore Did It
A deputy governor of Osun State from 1999-2003, Iyiola Omisore ran into trouble waters following the gruesome murder of former Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Federation, Bola Ige.
The week preceding Ige’s death, the long-running feud between the then Osun State Governor, Bisi Akande and his deputy, Omisore had allegedly contributed gravely to the death of an Osun legislator at the time, Odunayo Olagbaju.
An ally of Omisore, Olagbaju was said to have allegedly played a role in the humiliation of Ige at the Ooni of Ife’s palace few days earlier. A mob had attacked Ige during the chieftaincy investiture of the wife of former President Olusegun Obasanjo and lifted his cap.
Several suspects were arrested following the shooting to death of Ige in Ibadan, Oyo State. However, fingers were pointing at Omisore, who was impeached and subsequently arrested on December 27, 2002 despite decamping to the then ruling political party, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from the Alliance for Democracy (AD).
Even though he was still on trial, he was elected to the Senate to represent Osun East Senatorial District in April 2003 on the platform of the PDP defeating the incumbent AD candidate. He was released on bail on May 30, 2003 by an Ibadan High Court.
Theodore Orji-How He won It
Chief Theodore Ahamefule Orji of the then Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA) won his gubernatorial election in 2007 from prison becoming the first governor to be so elected from jail, the second to achieve the feat after Omisore.
As at the time of electioneering campaigns, Orji was at the Kirikiri Maximum Prisons in Lagos awaiting trial for multiple count charges of money laundering, fraud and conspiracy.
The EFCC accused him of being the conduit through which Abia State had been defrauded in the last eight years of Orji Uzor Kalu, whom he served as Chief of Staff.
However, regardless of his confinement, Orji defeated Chief Onyema Ugochukwu of the PDP by 265, 289 to 136, 858 votes. He was subsequently granted bail a few days to his swearing in, on May 29, 2007.
How Senators plan to save their own
As a way of standing by their own, senators have moved to amend an existing Act. The bill sponsored by Senator Chukwuka Utazi(PDP Enugu North) seeks to avert possible sufferings a convicted person like OBA would undergo between the period of the sentence by a lower court and when he may be set free by the appellant court.
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According to Utazi, bail is a fundamental principle of criminal justice system in every civilized society adding that a situation where a person is convicted, sentenced and committed to prison custody and serves out his term and eventually acquitted by the higher court will amount to bridging the rights of the citizen.
In his contribution, Senator Gershom Bassey said the amendment was in line with adhering to the fundamental human rights of every citizen to be presumed innocent until proven otherwise, adding that innocent Nigerians should not be incarcerated until proven by a higher court
Also speaking on the Amendment, the Deputy President of the senate, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege said, it’s an amendment long awaited that will re-write wrongs in the society.
The Amendment Bill thereafter passed second reading and was referred to the senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters to report back within four weeks.
