Governor Chukwuma Soludo of Anambra State has set tongues wagging following his announcement of a money reward for each ward gained by his social gathering, the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), within the forthcoming November 8 governorship election within the state.
The governor, through the social gathering’s marketing campaign rally in Umunze, Orumba South Native Authorities Space on Saturday, promised to provide his social gathering supporters N1 million per ward.
“Once we had been campaigning for the Senate, we knew we had been going to win each ward within the South Senatorial Zone, however we nonetheless had some incentives. Any ward that APGA gained acquired N1 million, and we gained all of the wards in Orumba South.
“We promised every of those wards N1 million, and subsequent week, we are going to redeem it.
“For November 8, any ward that wins once more will obtain N1 million, whereas the primary three performing wards will get N5 million, N2 million, and N1 million respectively,” he stated.
In the meantime, the pledge has stirred controversy and backlash from opposition events and civil society organisations, which described the transfer as open inducement and a gross violation of the Electoral Act.
DAILY POST studies that a minimum of 2.8 million registered voters are anticipated to take part within the ballot, by which 16 political events and their candidates will contest the governorship seat.
The Nationwide Vice Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) within the South-East, Dr. Ijeomah Arodiogbu, stated Soludo’s motion amounted to vote-buying and abuse of workplace.
Equally, the Nationwide Publicity Secretary of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Bolaji Abdullahi, referred to as on INEC to behave swiftly, describing Soludo’s promise as “a public confession of vote-buying.”
Additionally, the Labour Social gathering alleged that Soludo was weaponising poverty.
“This isn’t good for democracy. Why is he giving out cash now that elections are close to? That is vote-buying and manipulation. We are going to increase this matter on the subsequent stakeholders’ assembly with INEC,” the social gathering said.
