‘I didn’t tell them to go buy votes,’ Wike defends N10m reward for councillors

By Omeiza Ajayi, Abuja The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has said he never asked councillors to buy votes with the N10 million he promised those who deliver their wards in the 2027 general elections. “I didn’t tell them, ‘Take this money and go and buy votes.’ I said, ‘Go and work. Show commitment. Demonstrate that you really mean what you are talking about.

When you win, come, and we are going to reward you,” he said. Wike spoke on Tuesday during an inspection of ongoing infrastructure projects in Abuja. He was responding to criticism of the promise, which he said was an incentive for hard work and not an attempt to buy votes. Addressing stakeholders, traditional leaders, and political actors in Kwali Area Council the previous day, Wike had explained that the initiative was part of a broad grassroots mobilisation strategy designed to rally maximum support at the grassroots level.

“For the councillors, you have a task. I will hold a meeting with you again, and I will now say the way I am going to mobilise you, but I will give you a bet, like what is happening in the stars; it’s a competition. “Anybody who delivers his ward, if you deliver your ward, that is what the Rainbow Coalition has decided to do as mobilisation and support for Mr President; we have to start in the FCT (I couldn’t say so when the president came because they gave me only two minutes to talk).

But now that I have time to talk, let me say that the Rainbow Coalition all over the federation, as a form of mobilisation for Mr President to win this election, is saying that any councillor that delivers his ward will come and take N10 million. We want to mobilise for Mr President. So, go to your wards, and go and see your leaders. I know only you cannot do it, but we are using you as an instrumentality for your leaders.

Go and meet your leaders and say, ‘Look, oh, there is something that has come.’ We must not allow this thing to go. Let’s dedicate our ward for Mr President’. So, that is for that,” Wike had said. Speaking on Tuesday, Wike drew a line between rewarding political commitment and offering money to voters in exchange for their support. He said the councillors were challenged to prove their commitment through effective mobilisation.

To make his case, he pointed to athletes who are promised houses or other benefits if they return from international competitions with trophies. He asked why a similar reward in politics should automatically be read as bribery. He also faulted sections of the media for failing to tell legitimate rewards apart from vote-buying. Political parties and candidates, he argued, routinely spend money on campaign advertisements without facing the same scrutiny.

Wike urged journalists to pay closer attention to the difference between financial inducements meant to sway voters and rewards promised to political mobilisers for hitting set targets. He insisted that mobilisation should rest on commitment, performance and the ability to convince voters. On the projects he toured, the minister expressed satisfaction with the progress of Interchange Section 2 (ISEX 2), the Southern Parkway and the S1 Road, which incorporates a fire station.

He said the projects were on course for completion by December 15, ahead of the general elections scheduled for January 16, 2027. According to him, the infrastructure record of President Bola Tinubu’s administration would give it a strong basis for its re-election campaign. Wike added that his support for the President Bola Tinubu administration was driven by development and not party affiliation.

He said Nigerians who genuinely desire progress should back policies and programmes aimed at national development.