Party to Scrap Bulletproof SUVs, Charter Flights for Officials

The presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Prince Adewole Adebayo, has pledged to abolish bulletproof SUVs, chartered flights and other luxury benefits for public officials if elected president.

A statement issued in Abuja on Tuesday by Mark Adebayo, Chief Media and Communications Adviser to the Adebayo-Bugaje Presidential Campaign, said an SDP-led administration would redirect funds spent on executive luxuries towards education, healthcare and infrastructure.

Adebayo argued that Nigeria’s economic hardship was not caused by a lack of resources but by the excessive spending of public funds on political privileges at the expense of human development.

He said successive government budgets had allocated substantial sums to luxury vehicles, presidential fleet upgrades, State House renovations and empowerment programmes, while many Nigerians continued to struggle with rising living costs and deteriorating public services.

Citing estimates from civil society expenditure-tracking reports and budget analyses, Adebayo claimed that spending on political luxuries amounted to trillions of naira annually. He added that nearly ₦1 trillion was regularly allocated across budget cycles to luxury utility vehicles, presidential fleet upgrades and executive renovations.

He also cited mid-2026 budget implementation figures, claiming that 33 state governments spent more than $300 million, equivalent to about ₦410 billion, on governors’ offices, Government Houses and executive travel within six months.

According to him, the expenditure pointed to an annual drain exceeding ₦1 trillion across Nigeria’s 36 states.

The SDP candidate further criticised what he described as excessive spending on armoured vehicles, including procurement deals worth more than ₦10 billion for management fleets and state purchases allegedly made outside approved appropriation bills.

Adebayo promised that an SDP government would eliminate such waste, abolish unconstitutional vehicle allowances and reform public finances to ensure that government spending benefits citizens.

He maintained that four years would be enough for a determined administration to address Nigeria’s infrastructure challenges through focused governance.

The party also urged Nigerians to reject political leaders who treat public funds as personal resources, advocating instead for an economic system built around public welfare, productive activity and transparent service delivery.