President Bola Tinubu’s four week stay in Europe has moved to the centre of the 2027 campaign, with the African Action Congress taking the matter to court and the African Democratic Congress using it to draw a contrast with its candidate, Atiku Abubakar.
Tinubu left Abuja for London on 30 August 2026 on what the Presidency described as a working vacation, later travelling to Paris. The trip has been extended twice. His office said on 21 September that he would return at the weekend, then confirmed on 27 September, through Special Adviser on Information and Strategy Bayo Onanuga, that he would arrive in Lagos on Tuesday, 29 September, to mark the country’s 66th Independence anniversary on 1 October.
The African Action Congress asked the Federal High Court in Abuja to rule on whether Tinubu was required to send a written declaration to the National Assembly before extending his stay abroad. The suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/2353/2026, was filed by the party’s National Legal Adviser, Inibehe Effiong, and also challenges the failure of the National Assembly to pass a resolution allowing Vice President Kashim Shettima to act as President once the absence exceeded 21 days under Section 145(1) of the 1999 Constitution.
In a supporting affidavit, AAC National Secretary Oshiokhue Philip Ikpeminoghena stated that Tinubu travelled out on 30 August and announced the extension on 21 September. The party wants the court to declare the failure to transmit the declaration unlawful and to bar future presidents from proceeding on vacation without complying with Section 145(1). Joined as defendants are Tinubu, Attorney General Lateef Fagbemi, Senate President Godswill Akpabio, Speaker Tajudeen Abbas and the National Assembly. No hearing date has been fixed, and the claims are yet to be tested. The party’s presidential candidate, Omoyele Sowore, was present for the filing.
The ADC Presidential Campaign Council framed the absence as a matter of governance style. Its Director of Media and Publicity, Kola Ologbondiyan, said in Abuja that Atiku would offer an accessible and responsive presidency and would not be an “absentee President” unavailable when Nigerians need presidential attention. He made the remarks while receiving the Atiku Unity Movement, led by Francis Eburuwe.
Ologbondiyan said the experience of the past three years had reinforced the need for a leader physically available to take timely decisions. According to him, Atiku’s recent economic proposals were aimed at reducing the burden of high energy and living costs. Atiku has publicly proposed a production based intervention for petroleum refined in Nigeria, with a fixed spending limit, National Assembly approval and independent audits.
The Presidency rejected the concerns. Onanuga said on Sunday that Tinubu was “hale and hearty” and had remained engaged with official duties. “In this digital age, he does not need to be physically present in Abuja to do the work for which he was elected in 2023,” he said. He cited Tinubu’s meetings with French President Emmanuel Macron and businessman Vincent Bolloré, and the President’s role in a Paris signing between the Ogun State Government and DP World for the Gateway Deep Seaport.
The debate sharpened around Tinubu’s absence from the 81st United Nations General Assembly in New York, which Labour Party leader Peter Obi criticised. Shettima travelled to New York on 20 September and delivered Nigeria’s national statement during the General Debate, which ran from 22 to 28 September. Onanuga noted that Egypt and South Africa were also represented at leader level by delegates or a pre recorded message, arguing that Nigeria’s decision was not without precedent.
The Presidency said Tinubu continued to receive briefings and issue directives while away. Among them, it said, was an order for an independent investigation into the death of 37 detainees held by the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps in Minna, Niger State.
With the presidential election set for 16 January 2027, campaign activity across the parties has been subdued. Tinubu chairs the APC Presidential Campaign Council, with Abdulaziz Yari as Director General leading consultations with traditional and religious leaders in his absence, while Secretary to the Government George Akume has represented the President at some functions with Shettima also abroad.
The cost of living is likely to dominate once campaigning intensifies. According to figures the Presidency attributed to Reuters, petrol reached about N1,400 a litre in Lagos and Abuja last week, with some northern areas as high as N1,500, renewing concern over prices as the vote approaches.
The eventual court ruling on Section 145(1), Tinubu’s Independence Day broadcast and how the parties move from consultations to a national message will together shape the next phase. What is confirmed is the President’s return date and the pending suit. What remains open is how the courts and the campaign respond.