The All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) has dismissed allegations by opposition parties that Governor Charles Chukwuma Soludo’s promise to reward the highest voting ward with ₦5 million in the forthcoming November 8 Anambra governorship election amounts to vote buying.

In a statement issued by the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Mazi Ejimofor Opara, APGA said the opposition had deliberately misinterpreted the governor’s remarks, stressing that the initiative was designed to encourage mass voter participation and reduce voter apathy across the state’s 362 electoral wards.

Opara explained that the decision was driven by the need to stimulate healthy competition among wards, adding that despite over 2.7 million registered voters in Anambra, only about 10 percent typically turn out to vote during elections.

“First is to defray this corky story as some piece of misinformation. If you take a close look at elections in Anambra over the years, you would notice a high level of voter apathy. For instance, in 2021, Anambra had 2.7 million registered voters, yet less than two hundred thousand of that number decided that election,” Opara said.

He maintained that the ₦5 million ward reward was not an inducement but a strategy to boost civic participation and instill collective responsibility among voters.

“This is not about vote buying in any way. It is about initiating healthy competition amongst members of our party across wards and local governments. A competition that will translate into increased voter participation, not vote buying by any stretch of the imagination,” he stated.

Opara further argued that APGA, being the dominant political force in Anambra State, had no need to engage in vote buying to secure victory.

“We know and even the opposition knows that APGA is the dominant party and does not require any kind of inducement to win elections here,” he said.

He also referenced the popular case of a woman in Ukwulu who reportedly rejected money from another political party and still voted for APGA, describing it as proof that Anambra voters cannot be bought.

Opara noted that the initiative was meant to counter what he termed the ‘complacency of the majority’ — a situation where voters assume others will vote and end up staying home.

“In this election, we don’t just want to win; we want to mobilize and fully exploit the electoral strength of our party to hit the one-million-vote mark. To achieve this, appropriate incentives in the form of healthy competition have to be put in place,” he said.

He concluded that those criticizing the initiative were likely benefiting from low voter turnout, emphasizing that APGA’s plan was focused on ensuring massive voter engagement and a more inclusive electoral process in the forthcoming poll.