Senate President Godswill Akpabio has visited the Prayer Ground of St. Padre Pio at San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy, where he prayed for peaceful 2027 general elections and an end to banditry and terrorism in Nigeria.
Speaking to St. Padre Pio TV/Radio in Italy, Akpabio said he and his delegation travelled to seek God’s blessings for themselves, their families and the country.
“We are all from Nigeria. We came to offer prayers and get blessings from God for ourselves, families and our dear country that is currently being ravaged by banditry and terrorism,” he said.
He added that the group was leaving fulfilled after touching the holy ground and dropping their intentions, which he believes the saint will present to God on their behalf.
In a statement by his Special Assistant on Media, Jackson Udom, Akpabio described the site as holy and said he was impressed by how well it has been maintained.
“Some people who are here might not even understand the significance of this ground, but those of us who are adherents and followers of Pio believe in his intercessions,” he said.
The Senate President said his faith in Padre Pio’s intercession stems from what he described as the miraculous recovery of his wife, Mrs. Unoma Akpabio.
According to him, she was in a coma for six months in a hospital in Germany after an operation went wrong, and was “98 percent dead.”
Akpabio said that instead of allowing doctors to switch off her life-support machine, he used a picture of Padre Pio to make the sign of the cross on her, while calling on the Virgin Mary and the saint to intercede.
“Miraculously, she woke up. That hospital, up to today, is yet to understand what happened,” he said.
He added that after her discharge, it took his wife three months to remember his name and those of their children.
Akpabio said it was his 10th visit to the shrine, and that he was there to thank God and Padre Pio for their continued intercession.
He also said the family honoured the saint by giving their son the baptismal name Pio, and by establishing the Pio Football Academy, which trains children and offers scholarships to children of the poor from age nine through university level.
“May his soul rest in perfect peace,” he said.
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