Banditry Sponsored To Give Tinubu Bad Name Like Jonathan — Bishop Defends 2027 Tinubu Endorsement

The President General of the Charismatic Bishops Conference of Nigeria, Archbishop Leonard Kawas, has said his group’s endorsement of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for a second term in 2027 is driven by intelligence that banditry and kidnapping in the country are being sponsored to sabotage the administration.

Kawas stated this on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief while defending the endorsement amid accusations of financial inducement.

According to him, the current wave of insecurity is a deliberate plot to give President Tinubu a bad name, similar to what was done to former President Goodluck Jonathan.

“We did it because based on current happenings in our nation, the sabotage of people sponsoring banditry, and sponsoring kidnapping and all these things, just to give Tinubu a bad name — just the same way they did to Goodluck Jonathan,” he said.

“That is why we decided that since it is a proven fact, and there are international intelligence on this, that some people are sponsoring all this banditry and terrorism just to give Tinubu a bad name, to frustrate his government, and to blackmail him and blacklist him — that is why we say no. If that is the case, then it is Tinubu that we are going to support.”

The cleric insisted that the endorsement has nothing to do with money, saying not a single Naira has been given to the group by the administration.

“Today, this endorsement has not given us any one Naira. No one Naira has been given to us. We did it because… we are being led to do so,” he said.

Defending the involvement of clerics in politics, Kawas said charismatic bishops do not rely solely on tithes and offerings.

“Because if you see the work that we do, you will know why we charismatic bishops, we don’t only wait for tithe and offering, we do business. And politics — politics is one of the businesses that we do,” he said.

He recalled that the group had also endorsed Labour Party candidate, Peter Obi, in the past despite his “no dey give shishi” stance, without receiving financial reward.

“If we participate in politics, and any blessing comes from it, fine and good. But where the blessing does not come financially, it also doesn’t matter, so long as we are convinced that that is the right candidate,” Kawas added.

When pressed on whether the bishops would accept money in future if the President decides to reward their endorsement, he said: “When that time comes, we will pray about it, and whatever the Lord leads us to do is what we will do.”

Kawas also denied asking President Tinubu for an appointment, saying what he requested was for the President to empower religious leaders — both Christian and Muslim — to serve as a link between government and the grassroots, since worship centres are the first places people run to in trouble.