A former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, has criticized President Bola Tinubu’s meeting with Pope Leo XIV, labeling it an affront to Christianity.
Lawal suggested that the President’s participation in the Pope’s inauguration might have been orchestrated by lobbyists.
It should be noted that the head of the Roman Catholic Church recently invited President Tinubu to his historic papal inauguration held at the Vatican City in Rome.
Following the event, Tinubu joined other global leaders in exchanging pleasantries with the Pope.
However, during an interview on Arise Television on Wednesday, Lawal dismissed the significance of the meeting, describing it as inconsequential.
He argued that the President’s presence at the ceremony was not an achievement and speculated that lobbyists, possibly with appropriate inducements, could have facilitated the invitation.
“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 former SGF maintained that President Tinubu’s meeting with the Pope further reinforced his sentiment that a Muslim-Muslim ticket is an insult to Christians.
He faulted the President’s visit to the Vatican City, saying a Muslim should not be leading eminent Christians to the Pope.
According to him, Tinubu would not have attended the event if he had a Christian as Vice President. He added that the ticket with which Tinubu emerged as Nigeria’s President is an unfair arrangement.
He said, “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.”
It would be recalled that Babachir initially supported Tinubu’s candidate during the build-up to the 2023 presidential election. He withdrew his support when Tinubu chose Kashim Shettima, a fellow Muslim, as his running mate.