Public affairs commentator Reno Omokri has described President Tinubu as “the best friend the Catholic community has ever had in power,” citing the President’s attendance at the inauguration of Pope Leo XIV in Rome as a historic gesture of goodwill.
In a statement released on Sunday, Omokri said Tinubu’s presence at St. Peter’s Square on May 18, 2025, marked the first time a Nigerian leader attended a papal inauguration in person.
“And the only time a Nigerian leader was physically present in the Vatican to honour a Pontiff at his inauguration, and the global Catholic family at their celebration, was on Sunday, May 18, 2025, when His Excellency, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR… attended the inauguration Mass of Pope Leo XIV,” Omokri stated.
He linked the visit to broader religious relations in Nigeria, arguing that the act was “to demonstrate to the Roman Catholic Community in Nigeria that they have no better friend than President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.”
Omokri grounded his assessment in what he described as a 456-year Catholic history in his own community of Iwere, now Warri. He said his family was “the oldest Catholic family in Nigeria, having accepted Roman Catholicism in 1570, and made it the State Religion of Iwere.”
According to the statement, his ancestor, Olu Oyenakpagha — baptized Antonio Domingos — was “the first person in West Africa to write to the Vatican requesting Roman Catholic priests for Iwere.” Omokri also noted that Saint Anthony’s Church in Iwere, built in 1692, is “the oldest Catholic Church building in Nigeria.”
Listing five pontificates since Nigeria’s independence on October 1, 1960 — Pope Paul VI, Pope John Paul I, Pope John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI, Pope Francis, and Pope Leo XIV — Omokri concluded that from his community’s historical standpoint, Tinubu “has extended the right hand of fellowship to the Body of Christ in general and the Roman Catholic Community in particular, more so than any leader before him.”
“In this President, the Catholic Church has a friend who will promote peaceful religious coexistence and mutual prosperity for all Nigerians,” he added.
