The Senate president, Godswill Akpabio, will lead Nigeria’s delegation to Vatican City to attend the burial of Pope Francis on Saturday.
Pope Francis died at 88 on Easter Monday after surviving double lungs infection between February and March 2025.
Other members of the delegation are the Minister of State, Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Bianca Odumegwu Ojukwu; Archbishop Lucius Iwejuru Ugorji, President of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria; Archbishop of Sokoto Diocese, Archbishop Matthew Hassan Kukah; and Archbishop of Abuja Diocese, Archbishop Ignatius Ayua Kaigama.
A statement by Bayo Onanuga who is special adviser to Present Bola Tinubu,
said that the delegation will formally deliver a letter conveying President Tinubu’s sympathy and condolences on Pope Francis’ passing to the Acting Head of the Vatican.
Meanwhile, For a third and final day, queues of faithful wended their way up St. Peter’s Square to bid farewell to Pope Francis, whose body lay in state in a wooden casket in the eponymous basilica, his face uncovered.
Almost 130,000 visitors from across the world have filed past his casket, perched on a ramp facing mourners, with four Swiss Guards standing at attention, the Vatican said Friday.
