President Bola Tinubu has returned to Abuja after attending the Aqaba Process Heads of State and Government meeting in Rome, Italy.
The development was confirmed in a statement on Saturday by Bayo Onanuga, the President’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy.
The Aqaba Process, launched in 2015 by King Abdullah II of Jordan, is a counter-terrorism initiative jointly chaired by Jordan and Italy. This year’s summit focused on enhancing international and regional cooperation in combating terrorism and violent extremism, with a special emphasis on West Africa.
According to the statement, the high-level meeting was held on Wednesday, October 15, at the National Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art in Rome. It was attended by several world leaders, including King Abdullah II of Jordan, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, and the Presidents of Nigeria, Chad, Paraguay, Sierra Leone, and Togo.
Also present were Azouz Nasri, President of Algeria’s Upper House, and delegations from Côte d’Ivoire, Kazakhstan, Mauritania, Senegal, and Uzbekistan. The discussions were held behind closed doors.
On the sidelines of the summit, President Tinubu held bilateral talks with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Massad Boulos, Senior Adviser on Arab and African Affairs to former U.S. President Donald Trump.
Tinubu also met with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s Secretary of State, to discuss religious tolerance and unity in Nigeria. The talks addressed the spread of disinformation that portrays the country as intolerant of religious diversity.
