The African Action Congress made the demand in a formal letter dated Wednesday, signed by its National Secretary, Oshiokhue Philip Ikpeminoghena, and addressed directly to Tinubu at Aso Rock, Abuja, in preparation for the 2027 general elections.
At the center of the request is a specific venue: the Presidential Villa itself. Not a public hall. Not a party secretariat. The AAC wants its Presidential Campaign Council inauguration for candidate Omoyele Sowore held inside the same compound where Tinubu governs, a location that carries both symbolic weight and national visibility for any political party seeking to project legitimacy ahead of a general election.
Beyond access to the venue, the party also requested food, drinks, and logistical support for 5,000 participants expected to attend the event from within Nigeria and from abroad, according to the letter. The scale of the request signals that the AAC intends the inauguration to function as a major national gathering rather than a routine internal party exercise.
The justification the AAC offered rests on what happened eight days earlier. On October 14, the ruling All Progressives Congress held its own presidential campaign council inauguration, and the AAC said similar arrangements were reportedly extended to the APC for that event. The party’s letter draws a direct line between that occasion and its own request, framing the two events as comparable in character and therefore deserving of comparable treatment from the Presidency.
“We also request the provision of food, drinks, and other logistical support for 5,000 participants from home and abroad at the event, consistent with the arrangements reportedly extended to the All Progressives Congress for a similar political engagement,” the letter confirmed.
That framing is the sharpest part of the demand. By invoking the APC’s October 14 event, the AAC is not simply asking for access. It is placing the Tinubu administration in a position where a refusal becomes, by the party’s own framing, evidence of partisan discrimination.
Multiparty democracy, political inclusiveness, and equal treatment of political parties are the three principles the party cited as the foundation of its request, according to the letter signed by Ikpeminoghena. These principles, the AAC argues, are not aspirational but binding obligations on any administration that presents itself as governing in the interest of all Nigerians rather than in the interest of a single party.
The AAC also asked the presidency to provide information on the procedures and conditions applicable to the approval, indicating it expects a formal response before November 11, the party disclosed.
“We believe that granting this request would demonstrate the Presidency’s commitment to fairness, equal access, and the principle that public institutions must serve all Nigerians without partisan discrimination,” the letter read.
Sowore, a perennial opposition figure who has contested for president before, is the AAC’s candidate for 2027. The party’s letter positions his campaign launch not as a party event but as a test of whether public institutions in Nigeria operate without political bias.
No response from the Presidency had been made public as of Wednesday evening. Whether Tinubu’s office acknowledges, approves, or rejects the request will define how this demand is remembered ahead of the 2027 campaign season.
The AAC has not disclosed a fallback venue if the Presidential Villa request is declined, nor has it specified who among the 5,000 expected participants would be travelling from abroad, according to the letter.
What the letter does make clear is the calculation behind it. Approval gives the AAC a historic venue and a logistical boost for its campaign launch. Rejection gives it a political argument it can carry into the 2027 race, one that frames the ruling party not merely as a competitor but as an administration that used the machinery of government to tilt the electoral field against opposition parties before campaigning formally began.
The Presidential Campaign Council inauguration is scheduled for November 11, 2026, at the Presidential Villa, Aso Rock, Abuja, subject to approval from the Tinubu administration, the AAC confirmed in its formal demand.
