Former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, has slammed President Bola Tinubu’s recent visit to the Vatican, describing the meeting with Pope Leo XIV as “an insult to Christianity.”
Lawal, who was once a staunch supporter of Tinubu, made the comments during an interview on Arise Television on Wednesday.
He argued that the President’s presence at the Pope’s inauguration was not a significant achievement and could have been arranged through lobbyists.
“You know that going to see the Pope is just a matter of your lobby. How well you can lobby, how many friends you have out there in the Vatican that can lobby for you. So, it is not as if it’s a major achievement to visit the Pope on his inauguration. It can be arranged in advance by lobbyists, probably with the correct inducement. So, Bola Tinubu going to visit the Pope is a non issue,” he said.
The Roman Catholic Church had recently invited President Tinubu to attend the historic inauguration of Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican City in Rome.
At the event, Tinubu joined other world leaders to exchange pleasantries with the pontiff.
However, Lawal maintained that the President’s appearance at the ceremony only deepened his belief that the Muslim-Muslim ticket, which brought Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettima to power, was a slight against Christians.
“It reinforces my earlier belief that the Muslim-Muslim ticket is an insult to Christianity, had there a senior a Christian as a vice president. It’s only expected that he will be the one to represent the government. But now in Nigeria, we have a so-called Muslim visiting the Pope, leading a delegation of and Catholics, eminent Catholics, to the Vatican. So it proves the fact that a Muslim, Muslim ticket is an unfair arrangement,” he said.
