By Jemimah Wellington, JKNewsMedia Reporter
FOUR DAYS after attending the historic installation of Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican, Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu returned to Abuja on Tuesday evening.
A reception party of senior government officials welcomed the president at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport.
Among them were the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike; the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, George Akume; and the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Abdullahi Ganduje.
Travelling through the Mario De Bernardo Military Airport, Tinubu arrived in Italy on Saturday and joined global dignitaries on Sunday at St. Peter’s Square for the papal installation mass.
Pope Leo XIV, formerly Cardinal Robert Prevost, was elected on 8 May as the 267th Bishop of Rome and leader of the Roman Catholic Church.
A video shared via Tinubu’s official X account captured the president exchanging greetings and holding a brief conversation with the newly inaugurated pope during a post-mass reception.
The ceremony attracted international figures, including United States Vice President J.D. Vance and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
During his inaugural homily, Pope Leo XIV made a global appeal for unity, the safeguarding of nature, and greater protection for the world’s poor and marginalised populations.
While in Rome, Tinubu met with prominent Nigerian political figures, including 2023 Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate Peter Obi and former Ekiti State governor Kayode Fayemi.
He used the occasion to call for renewed national cohesion, encouraging Nigerians to transform their diversity into a foundation for unity and accelerated development.
