“Peter Obi Never Gave Me One Dollar, One Naira” — Archbishop Kawas Defends Tinubu Endorsement, Rejects ‘Fake Bishop’ Tag

The President General of the Charismatic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN), Archbishop Leonard Bouwe Kawas, has said he personally funded his participation in Mr. Peter Obi’s presidential campaign, paying the transportation of six clergymen and his own hotel bills, and that he never received a kobo from the candidate throughout the period.

Speaking in a television interview alongside the conference’s Secretary General, Archbishop Chianson, the cleric offered the account as his answer to critics who have described the body’s recent endorsement of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for a second term as politically purchased.

“He Never Asked Me How I Came, Or Which Hotel I Slept In”

“I supported Peter Obi at the initial stage of his presidential ambition and went with him everywhere in Nigeria,” Kawas said. “And he never gave me one dollar, one naira. Neither did he ever ask me one day how did I come to the campaign. He will just see me at the campaign.”

He continued: “I will pay the transportation of six clergymen. We will come there and support him. He never asked me how did I come, where, which hotel did I sleep. Yet I did it and nobody called me fake. We were on television everywhere.”

His conclusion was put as a question to his critics: “Is it now because I have prayed and God has led me that it is Tinubu, that I suddenly now become fake?”

The Endorsement

The controversy arises from the endorsement of President Tinubu for re-election in 2027 by the Charismatic Bishops Conference of Nigeria, announced by Kawas during the body’s Senate held in Abuja.

The conference said its decision rests on its assessment of the administration’s record, and in particular on its position that the President has not practised religious nepotism in his appointments notwithstanding the Muslim Muslim ticket on which he contested in 2023 and on which he is expected to seek re-election.

The endorsement drew immediate criticism from the leader of the INRI Evangelical Spiritual Church, Primate Elijah Ayodele, who said in a statement signed by his media aide that the bishops acted out of hunger for appointments and a desire for proximity to power rather than on any divine instruction. He described the endorsement as fake and cautioned the President against taking it to heart.

“There Is Nothing Like Hunger Around Us”

Responding to that charge, the Secretary General was pointed.

“I’m seriously disappointed at Primate Ayodele, because I thought he should have known better,” Archbishop Chianson said. “Now, hunger. The President General here, he’s an American citizen. The President General here, his children school in the United States of America, in very good schools. He pays their school fees in dollars, not from government’s money and not from any political patronage kind of money.”

“Come to our headquarters. When you come to our headquarters, then you would know that there is nothing like hunger around us.”

He added a disclosure about his own means: “Primate Ayodele, I need to inform you that I own diamond and gold mines in Liberia, and you can check this. So there’s no way there’s hunger in this.”

“We Have Our Scorecards”

The Secretary General said the endorsement was the product of an internal assessment rather than an arrangement.

“The reason why we endorsed President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is because we have our scorecards. And based on our scorecards, we were able to communicate with ourselves. We know that we have to provide leadership for our people. We know that we need to give direction. At this time in the nation, in times like this, after we’ve prayed together, we need to speak what the Lord is saying.”

On the economy, he said: “If you’re looking at it economically, Nigeria has been doing a lot better, especially in 2026 under his watch. Our GDP has been growing. Now unemployment rate has dropped as well.”

Challenged that unemployment is not falling at the rate Nigerians expected, he did not dispute the point but maintained the direction of travel: “Yes, but it is dropping. It is dropping anyway.”

He said the President had also steadied the national mood: “He has managed to at least calm the nerves of Nigerians. He’s managing our diversity very well. Unlike the previous government, our diversity was badly mismanaged. He has also restored back our hopes, especially those of us from the Christian community, based on his political appointments with no discrimination at all.”

The Appointments Cited

Asked how the conference arrived at that conclusion, and whether it had examined the cabinet list, the Secretary General named the offices on which the assessment rested.

“Number one, his appointment of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator Dr. George Akume. That was a turning point for us. The moment that appointment was done, then we began to say, oh, there’s something good in this government for us.”

He listed further offices: “Then we had the FCT Minister, who’s also a Christian. Then we also have the Minister of Aviation, who is also Christian. And then we also have Minister of Water Resources, Christian. Minister of Works and Housing, Christian. Now the Governor of Central Bank is also Christian. Currently, Minister of Finance, Christian. Minister of Foreign Affairs, currently Christian. Minister of Defence is also Christian right now.”