Sowore returns to Nigeria to restart 2027 presidential campaign

African Action Congress presidential candidate Omoyele Sowore has returned to Nigeria from the United States and said he will resume his campaign for the 2027 presidential election, according to a statement issued on Sunday. Sowore said he was pleased to be back with his family and in Nigeria after spending more than 20 months abroad. He said he had left the country because of what he described as arrests, detention, travel restrictions and the seizure of his international passport by Nigerian security agencies.

According to the statement, Sowore engaged Nigerians in the diaspora, supporters, activists and other stakeholders during his time in the United States. He also said he took part in a solidarity march for Palestine in New York and continued advocating voting rights for Nigerians living abroad. Sowore said participation by Nigerians in the diaspora would remain central to his political programme.

He said an AAC administration would pursue the introduction of diaspora voting if he were elected president in 2027. The candidate said he was expected to arrive at Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos before travelling to Abuja. He also said he would continue attending court proceedings in connection with a cybercrime case filed against him by the Department of State Services in 2025.

Sowore described his return as the beginning of another phase of his nationwide campaign. He said he planned to meet workers, students, young people, women, farmers, traders, professionals and communities across Nigeria. He said those engagements would address the political, social and economic issues in the AAC’s 2027 agenda.

The campaign, he added, would seek to mobilise Nigerians around equal rights, justice, peace, security and economic development, while advocating what he called fundamental political, social and economic transformation.