The African Action Congress, AAC, has filed a lawsuit at the Federal High Court in Abuja challenging President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s refusal to handover power to Vice President Kashim Shettima while on vacation in Europe.
The suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/2353/2026, was filed on behalf of the party through an Originating Summons on Monday, 28th September, 2026, by the National Legal Adviser of the AAC and Lagos-based human rights lawyer, Inibehe Effiong.
In the suit, the AAC is asking the court to declare that President Tinubu’s failure or refusal to transmit a written declaration to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives to enable the National Assembly to pass a resolution to authorise the Vice-President to perform the functions of the office of President as Acting President is undemocratic, unlawful and a violation of Section 145(1) of the 1999 Constitution as amended.
The party is also asking the court to declare that the failure of the National Assembly to pass a resolution to enable Vice President Kashim Shettima to become Acting President after Tinubu’s vacation exceeded 21 days is unconstitutional.
Joined as Defendants in the suit alongside President Tinubu are the Attorney General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, the Senate President, Senator Godswill Obot Akpabio, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Tajudeen Abbas, and the National Assembly as an institution
In addition to the declarations, the AAC prayed the court to issue an order of perpetual injunction restraining President Tinubu and future Presidents from proceeding on vacation without complying with the provisions of Section 145(1) of the 1999 Constitution.
In a 30-paragraph affidavit deposed to by the National Secretary of the AAC, Mr. Oshiokhue Philip Ikpeminoghena, the party stated that President Tinubu travelled out of the country on vacation on 30th August, 2026, and announced an extension of his vacation on 21st September, 2026, without offering any cogent reason.
The affidavit further stated that the Senate President, Senator Godswill Akpabio, instead of discharging his constitutional duties, announced that he had gone to the Prayer Ground of St. Padre Pio in San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy, to pray for the country.
The AAC argued that the President’s prolonged absence without constitutionally transferring power has created a governance vacuum at a time when Nigeria is facing serious economic and security challenges, and when over 130 world leaders gathered at the 81st United Nations General Assembly, UNGA, in New York.
The party contended that Section 145(1) of the Constitution is mandatory and not discretionary, and that the President cannot rule the country from abroad without following due process.
The 2027 presidential candidate of the party, Omoyele Sowore, was in court to witness the filing of the suit.
No date has been fixed for the hearing of the suit as at the time of filing this report.
The development comes amid growing criticisms from opposition parties over President Tinubu’s absence from the country for more than three weeks on what the Presidency described as a working vacation in France, and his failure to attend the UN General Assembly for the third consecutive time since assuming office in 2023.
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The Presidency, through the Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, had on Sunday maintained that the President is hale and hearty, working from France, and will return to Nigeria this week for the 66th Independence anniversary.