Ex-Ekiti State Governor, Kayode Fayemi, has revealed how he convinced former Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, to approach President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for a handshake during the inauguration of Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican in May 2025.
Fayemi revealed this during an interview on Edmund Obilo’s YouTube channel, explaining that Obi initially expressed concerns that the encounter could be politically misinterpreted.
The meeting between Tinubu, Obi and Fayemi first drew public attention after presidential aide Bayo Onanuga shared photographs from the event on X on May 18, 2025.
According to Onanuga at the time, Fayemi had spotted the president among world leaders and encouraged Obi to greet him.
Fayemi, however, disclosed that Obi initially did not want to go.
“Peter and I are Catholics. We were at the Vatican for the inauguration of the new pope. We happened to have had breakfast the morning of inauguration with Cardinal Lazarus and we came from his apartment to the venue of the inauguration and we sat four rows behind the president,” Fayemi said.
He explained that the interaction began after Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bianca Ojukwu, who was part of Tinubu’s delegation, crossed over to greet them.
“The current minister of foreign affairs, Bianca Ojukwu, was on the president’s delegation and she came to say hello to us. And I felt, well, our president is there regardless of our politics. Peter, please let us go,” he stated.
According to Fayemi, Obi hesitated because he feared the meeting could generate misleading political narratives.
“He had his concern that this might be misused in the media. I said, Peter, it really didn’t matter. You are Catholic. You are a Nigerian. You are here. Our president has honoured us,” Fayemi recalled.
“He is even a Muslim. He is not a Catholic like you and I. So we could extend courtesies to him for doing this on behalf of all Nigerians to celebrate the pope.”
Fayemi said Obi eventually agreed and both men walked up to greet the president.
“Readily, Peter agreed. So we walked up to the president and I said, ‘Mr President, welcome to the Vatican. Thank you for honouring us with your presence,’” he narrated.
The former governor said Tinubu responded humorously.
“The president is quick-witted, you have got to give him some credit for that as well. He immediately retorted, ‘Kayode, what are you saying? I should be the one welcoming you because I am the leader of the Nigerian delegation,’” Fayemi said.
He added that Obi also acknowledged Tinubu’s position as president during the exchange.
“Peter kindly said to him, ‘Yes sir, you are our leader. So thank you for coming to Rome to honour us even though we are not part of your delegation, but you are our leader.’ So we joked about it and that was it,” Fayemi stated.
The former Ekiti governor noted that the brief interaction ended there before Tinubu proceeded to other official engagements at the Vatican.
When asked whether the handshake marked the first direct interaction between Tinubu and Obi since the 2023 presidential election, Fayemi declined to speculate.
“I wouldn’t know, but they shook hands there,” he said.
Fayemi and Obi, both practising Catholics and Papal Knights, had previously attended the inauguration of Pope Francis in 2013 while serving as governors.
Tinubu, who attended the event despite being Muslim, later described his participation as a reflection of Nigeria’s unity in diversity.
“If we use our diversity not for adversity but for prosperity, the country’s hope is stability and progress,” the president reportedly told members of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria who accompanied his delegation.
