The newly appointed Pope Leo XIV has extended an invitation to President Bola Tinubu for his inauguration set to take place on Sunday, May 18.
The presidency has clarified that the president will leave Abuja for Rome, Italy, on Saturday, May 17.
A statement issued by Tinubu’s special adviser on information and strategy, Bayo Onanuga, indicates that the Nigerian president will participate in the solemn mass that will inaugurate the Pontificate of His Holiness Pope Leo XIV.
Accompanying President Tinubu on this journey will be the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, along with the Archbishop of Owerri and President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria, Archbishop Lucius Ugorji.
It has been reported that the Pope’s invitation letter to Tinubu includes a portion that states:
“Your great nation is particularly dear to me as I worked in the Apostolic Nunciature in Lagos during the 1980s.”
