2027: APC Reacts As Wike Promised ₦10M Reward To FCT Council To Deliver Votes To PBAT In Their Wards

According to a report by Channels TV, on Monday November 9, 2026, the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Nentawe Yilwatda, has stoutly defended the recent pledge made by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, offering a ₦10 million reward to FCT council wards that successfully deliver votes for President Bola Tinubu in the 2027 general elections.

Speaking in an interview, the Yilwatda rejected labels of vote-buying or voter inducement, drawing a distinction between pre-election vote-buying and post-election performance rewards.

When pressed by interviewers on whether the monetary promise constituted voter inducement or a criminal electoral offense during an address to FCT councilors, the APC chairman pushed back, arguing that the incentive is structured as a post-election reward rather than pre-election cash for votes:

“If today I want to motivate other students and I say look there’s a reward for anybody who comes first in the class it’s an inducement that’s a reward for academic excellence it’s totally different. It’s a different kettle of fish when you are asking people to say we give you money to deliver word that is inducement.”

Clarifying the timeline of when the funds would be disbursed, the party official maintained that payouts are contingent upon legally verified results rather than immediate inducement at the polling booth:

“It matters. It matters because if the money is given after election has been concluded and the winner has been declared and there’s nothing at stake again—he said if the court has proven and all the legal processes have been followed that you legally deliver your ward, we’re giving you 10 million naira.”

Concluding the defense against allegations of electoral malpractice, the official asserted that true vote-buying takes a very different form:

“So, but if he wants to do vote buying, he would have said, ‘I’m going to give you 10 million naira so I can use the money to buy votes on election day so they can leave a present for me.’ That’s vote buying.”

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