“Breaking News: Pope Leo XIV Urges Nigerian Government to Release Nnamdi Kanu, Advocates for Peace in Nigeria and Africa. His Holiness Pope Leo XIV has made an impassioned plea to the Government of Nigeria, urging the release of Nnamdi Kanu as a gesture toward reconciliation and lasting peace.”
Posts and videos have been circulating on Facebook claiming that Pope Leo XIV advocated for leader the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) Nnamdi Kanu’s freedom
The Facebook urging the release of Nnamdi Kanu as a gesture toward reconciliation and lasting peace.…CONTINUE READING
The claim is false as there is no evidence to back up the claim that Pope Leo met with President Bola Tinubu to discuss Nnamdi Kanu’s freedom
Another Facebook user, Agozi Comedy, posted a video, claiming that Pope Leo met with President Bola Tinubu to plead for Kanu’s release.
“Pope Leo XVI and other bishops in Rome plead with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to release Nnamdi Kanu so peace can be restored in South-South.”
Dubawa, a fact-checking media platform, stated that the video was shot during Pope Leo XIV’s inauguration on May 8, 2025. Google Lens was used to assess the authenticity of the posted video.
The finding shows that the video was when Tinubu met with a group of bishops who were part of the Nigerian delegation to the Vatican during Pope Leo’s inauguration.
In the original video, Pope Leo was not present during Tinubu’s meeting with the bishops. Also, at no point in the video was there any mention or request for the release of Nnamdi Kanu.
There were also no public statements, press releases, or credible news reports about the alleged plea for Kanu’s release by Pope Leo.
Conclusion on supposed plea by Pope
There is no credible evidence that Pope Leo XIV called on Tinubu’s administration to release Kanu from custody.
Findings also revealed that Pope Leo never had a meeting with President Tinubu regarding the release of Kanu.
In light of Dubawa’s findings, the claim is false.
