Dayo Israel is trending. The APC National Youth Leader announced that he presented brand new 2026 model Toyota Land Cruiser Prado SUVs to selected youth leaders in his community. He said the vehicles will aid their election mobilisation activities. He thanked First Lady Oluremi Tinubu for helping him. An APC spokesperson said he has given Prados to many youths across the 36 states to ensure the party wins in 2027. “APC is supreme and supremacy will show this election period,” the spokesperson said.
Nigerian parties have long rewarded mobilisers with vehicles and cash. In 2014, the APC distributed branded buses to youth wings. In 2019, the PDP handed out vehicles in the southeast. The practice is patronage, not charity. A vehicle is an advance on future loyalty. The recipient owes the party turnout, logistics and sometimes worse. What has changed is the price of the gift. A Prado now costs over ₦200 million. That is roughly 2,857 months of the ₦70,000 minimum wage, or 238 years of work for a Nigerian on the floor.
The reaction was fierce. Netizens contrasted the gift with the cost of living. Fuel sits above ₦1,400 per litre. Food inflation is 19.59%. The same government tells citizens to endure. “While they ask you to go and fry akara,” one post read. Another said the APC is “borrowing and stealing.” The party has not denied the gifts. It has framed them as mobilisation tools. The youth leaders who received them have not spoken.
The optics are damaging in a way the party seems not to grasp. A Prado fleet in a country where the minimum wage is ₦70,000 is not a campaign asset. It is a confession. It tells young Nigerians that the party’s money is real, and that none of it is coming to them.
Winners: The selected youth leaders, who gain vehicles. Dayo Israel, who buys loyalty. Dealers and importers of luxury SUVs. Losers: Young Nigerians told to endure hardship. APC candidates defending the gift. Taxpayers, if public funds or loans funded it. The party’s youth outreach, which now reads as bribery. Every party member who cannot afford fuel for a Prado.
Bottom Line: ₦200 million per vehicle to mobilise youths who cannot afford transport. The APC is not hiding its priorities. It is advertising them.