Speaking on ARISE News on Tuesday, Epelle condemned the remark, describing it as “political rascality”. He argued that it undermines democratic values while serving as a veiled form of vote-buying disguised as community empowerment.

“Unfortunately, that’s very unfortunate. I would describe that, and everybody knows me, I speak my mind. It’s actually political rascality. That’s the only way I can describe it. Soludo should have known better; that’s not the kind of thing, information you put out there for your people. It’s nothing but an inducement that is wearing the cloak of bait with Naira. It shouldn’t have happened. He shouldn’t have done that.”

Governor Soludo stirred controversy after announcing a cash reward for every ward won by his party, the All Progressives Grand Alliance, in the forthcoming November 8 governorship election.

While speaking on Saturday during the party’s campaign rally in Umunze, Orumba South Local Government Area, Soludo promised to give his party supporters N1m.

He said, “When we were campaigning for the Senate, we knew we were going to win every ward in the South Senatorial Zone, but we still had some incentives. Any ward that APGA won received N1m, and we won all the wards in Orumba South.

“We promised each of these wards N1m and next week, we will redeem it. The ward that comes first will get N5m, the second N3m and the third N2m. That was the deal. For November 8, any ward that wins again will receive N1m, while the first three performing wards will get N5m, N2m and N1m respectively.”