He made the remarks on the floor of the Senate during the
confirmation hearing of Joash Amupitan as the substantive Chairman of the
Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.

According to Akpabio: “I was cheated in the 2019 elections,
and we went to court. The court annulled the election and ordered the
prosecution of the electoral officer, but instead of prosecuting the INEC
commissioner, they prosecuted the returning officer, a professor from
University of Calabar who has done 34 years in service.

“He was sentenced to three years imprisonment, the same INEC
Electoral Commissioner working with some cohorts changed the story that the man
was trying to assist Akpabio.

“If the man was trying to assist Akpabio, how come they
burnt my votes in my local government, how come I was not announced as the
winner? I kept quiet.

“If we are amending the Electoral Act, the real offenders
must be held responsible because at the level of the returning officer, the man
can only announce what is collated from the collation centres.

“But a situation where the Resident Electoral Commissioner
send security men to go and hijack the announcement to his office which is
against the Electoral Act and the court said the person who committed this
offence should be prosecuted and they prosecuted the wrong person, then we must
also look at what INEC is doing.

“INEC should be held responsible for certain infractions in
the Electoral Act.”