President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has returned to Abuja after attending the Aqaba Process Heads of State and Government Meeting held in Rome, Italy.

The Aqaba Process, a counter-terrorism initiative launched in 2015 by His Majesty, King Abdullah II of Jordan, and co-chaired by the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and the Government of Italy, aims to strengthen regional and international collaboration in combating terrorism and violent extremism, with particular focus on West Africa.

The Rome edition of the meeting took place on Wednesday, October 15, at the National Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art, attracting several heads of state and government, including King Abdullah II of Jordan, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, and the Presidents of Nigeria, Chad, Paraguay, Sierra Leone, and Togo.

Also in attendance were Azouz Nasri, President of Algeria’s Upper House, as well as delegations from Côte d’Ivoire, Kazakhstan, Mauritania, Senegal, and Uzbekistan, alongside special envoys and security experts. The meeting was held behind closed doors.

On the sidelines of the summit, President Tinubu held bilateral meetings with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Massad Boulos, U.S. President Donald Trump’s Senior Adviser on Arab and African Affairs. He also met with the Vatican’s Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, where discussions centered on promoting religious harmony in Nigeria.

According to Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, the meetings also addressed the spread of disinformation portraying Nigeria as intolerant of religious diversity.

Since its launch in 2015, the Aqaba Process has convened 33 meetings across various levels from heads of state summits to technical expert sessions anchored on three core pillars: prevention, coordination, and closing operational gaps in global counter-terrorism efforts.