Soldiers earn peanuts as APC youth leader flaunts billion-naira SUVs, Utomi says

Professor Pat Utomi, a chieftain of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, criticised the APC for distributing luxury SUVs to selected youth leaders while, he said, Nigerian soldiers receive meagre salaries. He questioned whether the vehicles, each said to cost more than 100 million naira, could have been replaced with world-class ambulances. APC National Youth Leader Dayo Israel posted a video of 2026 Toyota Prado SUVs presented to youth leaders for election mobilisation ahead of the 2027 general elections, but later deleted it. The distribution drew social media criticism amid economic hardship associated with the Tinubu administration’s reforms.