President Bola Tinubu met with former Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi and former Ekiti State Governor, Kayode Fayemi, at the Vatican on Sunday during the installation mass of Pope Leo XIV.
Presidential spokesman, Bayo Onanuga, shared details of the conversation between Tinubu and Obi, who was one of the president’s two biggest challengers in the 2023 presidential poll.
According to official results announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Obi secured the highest number of votes in Lagos, a state widely regarded as Tinubu’s political stronghold.
He polled 582,454 votes in Lagos, while Tinubu garnered 572,606 votes in what analysts described as a demystification of Tinubu.
Despite the loss in Lagos, Tinubu won majority of the states to emerge winner of the presidential poll.
Onanuga, in a tweet on Sunday, said Tinubu and Obi met face-to-face at the Vatican.
President Tinubu led Nigeria’s official delegation to the Pope’s installation.
Onanuga said Fayemi, upon sighting President Tinubu seated, beckoned to Obi to join him in greeting the president.
To ease the atmosphere, Fayemi was quoted as saying: “Mr. President, welcome to our church, and thank you for honouring the Pope with your presence.”
Onanunga further quoted Tinubu as responding: “I should be the one welcoming you and Peter. I’m the Head of the Nigerian Delegation”.
He said the president’s response cracked up Obi, who agreed with the President.
Obi said: “Yes, indeed. We are members of your delegation”.
Earlier, President Tinubu met with members of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria in Rome, where he urged Nigerians to harness the country’s religious and cultural diversity for unity and national development.
“If we use our diversity not for adversity but for prosperity, the country’s hope is stability and progress,” said Tinubu.
The Catholic bishops were part of President Tinubu’s delegation to attend Pope Leo XIV’s installation mass on Sunday.
Archbishop Lucius Ugorji, Archbishop of Owerri and President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria, and Archbishops Ignatius Kaigama of Abuja, Alfred Martins of Lagos, and Mathew Hassan Kukah, the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, attended the meeting with Tinubu.
