By 247ureports.com
African Action Congress (AAC) presidential candidate Omoyele Sowore has escalated his weeks-long campaign questioning President Bola Tinubu’s health and whereabouts, now claiming outright that the president is currently hospitalized and that his party will pursue legal action aimed at triggering an impeachment process.
The Claim
Speaking Sunday, Sowore said he knows where Tinubu is and that the president is in hospital, adding that he expects Tinubu to return to Nigeria once discharged. He said the AAC has taken a position to sue in a bid to get the National Assembly to commence impeachment proceedings.
The Presidency has firmly disputed the characterization, maintaining that Tinubu is “hale and hearty” and currently on a working vacation abroad, with plans to return to Nigeria this week. Officials have said Tinubu departed Abuja on August 30 for a three-week annual leave and working trip.
Part of a Building Pattern of Claims
This is the latest and most direct in a series of allegations Sowore has made about Tinubu’s condition over recent weeks. On September 20, reacting to the Presidency’s announcement that Vice President Kashim Shettima would represent Nigeria at the 81st UN General Assembly in Tinubu’s place, Sowore alleged that Tinubu was not simply vacationing in France but receiving medical treatment there, and predicted he would be “packaged” to return as though nothing had happened. He linked the pattern to what he described as a history of secrecy surrounding the health of past Nigerian leaders, including former presidents Umaru Yar’Adua and Muhammadu Buhari.
Sowore also tied Tinubu’s UNGA absence to what he called the president’s fear of possible action by U.S. authorities over a decades-old drug-related legal matter — court records show Tinubu was named in a 1993 civil forfeiture case but do not establish that he was indicted or convicted of any criminal offense in connection with it. Tinubu did meet French President Emmanuel Macron for a private dinner at the Élysée Palace on September 17 during his stay in Paris, a meeting the Presidency has publicly confirmed took place.
Earlier in the year, in January, Sowore also questioned Tinubu’s public visibility, arguing Nigeria was effectively “without a president” during a stretch of foreign travel, as budget documents showed the president and vice president had a combined N7.4 billion earmarked for foreign trips in the 2026 fiscal year.
Sowore on 2027, Security and INEC
Sowore is himself a declared candidate for the 2027 presidential election, having confirmed his bid and said the AAC would hold its primaries to select a candidate rather than impose himself on the party. He has been broadly critical of the political class as a whole, previously accusing figures across party lines — including Tinubu, Atiku Abubakar, Peter Obi, Seyi Makinde and Rotimi Amaechi — of contributing to cycles of poverty, insecurity and suffering in the country.
On INEC, Sowore’s skepticism echoes concerns raised by other opposition figures ahead of the January 16, 2027, presidential and National Assembly polls, with critics alleging the commission has faced political pressure to favor the ruling APC — an allegation INEC’s leadership has repeatedly denied, insisting on its neutrality. INEC Chairman Prof. Joash Amupitan has separately warned that insecurity in parts of the country poses a genuine threat to the conduct of free and fair elections in 2027, a concern echoed by election monitors such as Yiaga Africa regarding the shift of violence toward direct attacks on electoral activities.
Unverified
As with his earlier claims, Sowore’s assertion that Tinubu is currently hospitalized rests solely on his own account; he has not disclosed the basis for his knowledge of the president’s location or condition. The Presidency has not directly addressed the hospitalization claim as of this report, continuing instead to describe Tinubu’s absence as a working vacation.
