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Bishop Leonard Kawas has explained why he supported Peter Obi in the 2023 presidential election but is now backing President Bola Tinubu for the 2027 election.
Speaking during an interview on Channels TV, Kawas said his decision to support Obi in 2023 was based on his choice at the time, stressing that he had the constitutional right to decide which candidate to support.
He recalled that he openly campaigned for Obi and travelled with him to several parts of Nigeria during the 2023 presidential campaign.
According to him, if his political decisions were driven by convenience or his previous relationship with Tinubu, he would have supported the former Lagos State governor in 2023.
“In 2023, President Bola Ame Tinubu was contesting against Peter Obi, and I chose Peter Obi. If it was for convenience, I would have supported President Bola Ame Tinubu in 2023, but I did not.”
Kawas said his support for Obi was a deliberate political choice.
“It was a matter of choice. It is my fundamental human right to decide who I support.”
He said circumstances had changed ahead of the 2027 election, leading him and his group to back Tinubu.
“But for 2027, based on the issues on ground right now and based on the leading of the spirit, I and my group, we are supporting President Bola Ame Tinubu because we believe he is on the right course.”
Kawas acknowledged that the Tinubu administration had not achieved perfection but said he believed the government was moving in the right direction.
“He may not have yet gotten everything 100 percent, but he is on the right course.”
He added that the group believed another four years would enable Tinubu to make further progress.
“We believe that given another four years, he will definitely take Nigeria to a very high height in all ramifications.”
The bishop also recalled his extensive involvement in Obi’s 2023 campaign, saying he followed him to several states and was present at the campaign’s final rally in Lagos.
He said the fact that he had now chosen Tinubu did not make his previous support for Obi fake or inconsistent.
“So just because this time around I am led to support President Bola Ame Tinubu, then they say we have become fake, we are doing something new, they don’t know us. That is very, very wrong.”
