The Tinubu Media Support Group has described the personal invitation to President Bola Tinubu by Pope Leo XIV to attend his inauguration as a reflection of Nigeria’s great stature in the comity of nations.

In a statement on Saturday, Chairman of TMSG, Emeka Nwankpa, said Mr Tinubu was the first Nigerian President to attend a Papal inauguration in recent memory.

The group said, “When the Presidency announced that President Tinubu would be attending the inauguration of the Catholic Pontiff, Pope Leo XIV, it did mention that the Papal invitation by the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, underscored the need for the President’s physical presence. For us, it represents the importance that the Vatican accorded the President and the country in the scheme of things, especially as the inauguration ceremony was to be Pope Leo’s first interaction with world leaders.

“Indeed, the Pope had a brief interaction with all the international leaders in attendance, including President Tinubu, US Vice President J.D. Vance and President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine.’’

According to TMSG, Mr Tinubu’s presence at the Pope’s inauguration is the first time in 20 years that a Nigerian leader would be attending a Papal inauguration.

The group noted, “In 2005, when Pope Benedict XVI was inaugurated, there is nothing on record to show that the then President Olusegun Obasanjo, a Christian, was at the event even though Nigeria had a delegation in attendance that year. When Pope Francis celebrated his papal inauguration in March 2013, the Nigerian delegation was headed by the then Senate President, David Mark, who delivered former President Goodluck Jonathan’s congratulatory letter to the Pope.

“But in President Tinubu, we had a Muslim, who not only accepted the Papal invitation, but also attended and told newsmen that his presence was consistent with the true sense of achieving unity in diversity.”.

The group said this was reassuring, more so as some Christians in Nigeria had expressed reservations about peaceful coexistence and religious harmony because of the President’s Muslim-Muslim ticket in the 2023 election.

“We, however, note that during President Tinubu’s meeting with members of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria, he reaffirmed his commitment to using ‘our diversity, not for adversity but for prosperity.’ It is also a good development that the head of the Catholic Bishops Conference acknowledged the President’s action in facilitating their attendance at Pope Francis’ funeral as well as the inauguration of Pope Leo,” TMSG stated.

The group expressed hope that many more Nigerians would appreciate the president as a fair-minded leader, contrary to the pre-election impression sold to them by the opposition.

(NAN)