Former Ekiti State Governor, Kayode Fayemi, has revealed how he convinced Labour Party presidential candidate in the 2023 election, Peter Obi, to greet President Bola Tinubu during the inauguration of Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican last May.
Fayemi made the disclosure during an interview on Edmund Obilo’s YouTube channel published on Thursday, explaining that Obi initially hesitated over fears that the encounter could be misinterpreted in the media.
The meeting first drew public attention on May 18, 2025, after presidential aide, Bayo Onanuga, shared photographs of the trio at the papal inauguration ceremony on X.
According to Onanuga, Fayemi had spotted Tinubu seated among world leaders and encouraged Obi to join him in greeting the president.
Providing more details during the interview, Fayemi said he and Obi attended the event as Catholics and had earlier shared breakfast with Cardinal Lazarus before heading to the inauguration venue, where they were seated a few rows behind Tinubu.
“Peter and I are Catholics. We were at the Vatican for the inauguration of the new pope. We happened to have had breakfast that morning with Cardinal Lazarus before heading to the venue,” Fayemi said.
He explained that the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bianca Ojukwu, who was part of the presidential delegation, first approached them to exchange greetings, prompting him to suggest they reciprocate the gesture by greeting the president.
Fayemi said Obi was initially reluctant, expressing concern that photographs or reports of the meeting might be politicised.
“He had his concern that this might be misused in the media. I told him it didn’t matter because we were there as Nigerians and Catholics, while the president had honoured the occasion on behalf of the country,” he said.
According to Fayemi, Obi eventually agreed and both men approached Tinubu together.
Recalling the exchange, Fayemi said he welcomed the president to the Vatican and thanked him for attending the inauguration, but Tinubu jokingly replied that, as head of the Nigerian delegation, he should have been the one welcoming them instead.
Obi also acknowledged Tinubu’s position during the interaction, Fayemi added.
“Peter then said, ‘Yes sir, you are our leader. Thank you for coming to Rome to honour us even though we are not part of your delegation,’” Fayemi recounted.
He said the encounter ended cordially, with both parties later going their separate ways as Tinubu continued official engagements linked to the inauguration of Pope Leo XIV.
When asked whether it was the first handshake between Tinubu and Obi since the 2023 presidential election, Fayemi declined to speculate, saying only that “they shook hands there.”
Fayemi and Obi are both devout Catholics and Papal Knights, a Vatican honour bestowed on distinguished members of the Catholic Church.
The two politicians had also attended the inauguration of Pope Francis in 2013 while serving as governors.
Tinubu, who is Muslim, said after the mass that his participation reflected Nigeria’s unity despite religious and political differences.
“If we use our diversity not for adversity but for prosperity, the country’s hope is stability and progress,” the president told members of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria who accompanied him to the event.