Omoyele Sowore, the presidential candidate of the African Action Congress, has returned to Nigeria from the United States to formally resume his campaign for the 2027 presidential election, ending an extended stay abroad that stretched beyond 20 months.

In a statement issued on Sunday, Sowore said he was overjoyed to be reunited with his family and country after a prolonged separation that he attributed to arrests, detentions, travel restrictions and the seizure of his international passport by Nigerian security agencies.

He disclosed that he was expected to touch down at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos before proceeding to Abuja, where his campaign said he would immediately plunge back into nationwide political activities.

The AAC, in its own statement announcing his return, framed the moment as the effective relaunch of the #Sowore2027 movement, describing it as the campaign “hitting the road” once again.

During his time in the US and Canada, Sowore engaged extensively with Nigerians in the diaspora, meeting supporters, activists and other stakeholders to discuss the state of the country and his political agenda. He also took part in a solidarity march for Palestine in New York and continued to press his long-standing advocacy for diaspora voting rights, an issue he has made central to his campaign.

He reiterated that, if elected in 2027, an AAC-led government would work to secure voting rights for Nigerians living outside the country, a reform he has argued is long overdue given the size and influence of the Nigerian diaspora.

Sowore’s return also means a resumption of his court appearances in the cybercrime case brought against him by Nigeria’s Department of State Services in 2025, which centres on social media remarks in which he referred to President Bola Tinubu as a “criminal.” The case had earlier seen the DSS seek repeated adjournments, with reports suggesting the agency was looking to push proceedings until after the 2027 election.

His campaign has consistently maintained that neither the legal battle nor his travel abroad would derail preparations for the presidential race, insisting that AAC structures continued to function nationwide throughout his absence.

This will be Sowore’s third bid for the presidency, having previously flown the AAC flag in the 2019 and 2023 elections. He has been unequivocal in recent months about his intention to contest again, telling both critics and skeptics, including former Cross River State governor Donald Duke, that his name featured on the Independent National Electoral Commission’s final list of candidates and that he was “running to win” rather than merely serving as a protest voice. Sowore has continued to position himself as an anti-establishment alternative to Nigeria’s dominant political figures, arguing that the ideas driving the country’s mainstream parties have entrenched poverty, insecurity and hardship, and that his campaign for “revolutionary transformation” offers a genuine departure from that pattern.

With his return now confirmed, the AAC said Sowore would begin engaging directly with workers, students, youths, women, farmers, traders and professionals across the country as the race toward 2027 gathers pace.