Hired APC Crowd Complains Bitterly After Getting Just ₦1,500 Each

A video showing a group of All Progressives Congress (APC) campaign participants complaining they were paid just ₦1,500 each after a full day of dancing and campaigning under the sun has gone viral, reigniting public debate over the treatment of hired crowds at Nigerian political rallies ahead of the 2027 general elections.

None of the individuals in the video has been identified by full name, and the APC has not issued an official response to the specific incident as of this report; the claims remain as described by the participants themselves in the circulating footage.

What the video shows

Findings by ValidViewNetwork show the clip, originally shared on TikTok before spreading widely across other platforms, features participants dressed in green APC campaign T-shirts printed with President Bola Tinubu’s image.

In the video, one of the men is heard voicing his frustration directly to camera:

“It’s okay, I follow do advertisement. One thousand five hundred naira for what? Family man?”

Other participants can be heard expressing similar disappointment, with several shown holding up the naira notes as if offering proof of what they had actually been paid.

A gap between expectation and payment

Checks by ValidViewNetwork, drawing on accounts accompanying the video’s spread, show participants reportedly expected to receive around ₦5,000 for their day’s work, only to be handed ₦1,500 at the end.

One widely shared caption summarised the scene starkly: a crowd hired to dance and campaign all day, ultimately paid a sum many described as barely enough to cover transport.

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A familiar complaint in a familiar season

This is not the first time footage of hired political crowds has circulated in Nigeria, nor the first time payment disputes have surfaced around campaign mobilisation; similar videos and complaints have periodically gone viral around election cycles, feeding a recurring public conversation about the use of paid crowds, colloquially referred to online as “rented” supporters, to boost turnout and visibility at rallies.

The clip’s resurfacing now, months ahead of the January 2027 polls, has added fresh fuel to that conversation, with social media users sharply divided between mockery of the participants and criticism of the party’s mobilisation practices.

Why it matters beyond one video

The episode lands at a moment when Nigeria’s political class is already under scrutiny over cost-of-living pressures and how ordinary citizens experience the run-up to elections.

Whether the specific claims in the video are independently verified, or whether the APC responds directly to the allegations, remains to be seen; for now, the clip has become one more flashpoint in the broader, uneasy relationship between Nigeria’s political parties and the grassroots labour that keeps their rallies visibly full.