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Archbishop Kawas has pushed back against criticism of his decision to support President Bola Tinubu, pointing to his experience during the 2023 presidential election when he openly supported Peter Obi.
Speaking during an interview on Arise TV, Kawas explained that his support for Obi at the time was based on his own convictions and was not tied to any financial benefit from the former Anambra State governor.
According to him, he travelled to different parts of the country in support of Obi’s presidential campaign. But despite following the campaign across several locations, he said Obi never gave him money for his movements or asked him how he managed to get to the various campaign grounds.
Kawas said he would simply arrive at campaign venues, join others in praying for Obi and participate in the activities surrounding the campaign.
He also recalled that the clergymen who travelled with him had to take responsibility for their own transportation expenses.
“Peter Obi never gave me one dollar or one naira. I travelled with him all over the country to support him, and he never asked how we got to the campaign grounds.
He would just see me at the campaign venue. We would pray for him, and we paid the transportation costs of six clergymen.
During that time, nobody called me fake. Now, because I have prayed and God has led me to believe that it is Tinubu, I have suddenly become a fake bishop?”.
For Kawas, the issue is therefore not simply about which politician he supported at a particular point in time. He appears to be drawing attention to the fact that political support can change when a person’s convictions change, especially when that decision is influenced by religious beliefs.
His comments also bring his previous involvement in Obi’s campaign into the conversation. Rather than denying that he once supported Obi, Kawas openly acknowledged it and explained that he did so without expecting payment or financial assistance.
The archbishop’s argument is straightforward: supporting one political candidate in the past does not, in his view, prevent him from supporting another candidate later.
Kawas said his current support for Tinubu followed prayer and what he described as divine direction. He questioned why his credibility as a clergyman should now be challenged simply because his political position has changed.
His account also makes clear that he does not see his previous relationship with the Obi campaign and his present support for Tinubu as contradictory. For him, the two positions represent decisions made at different times based on what he believed was right.
The central point of his defence is that he supported Obi when he believed in his candidacy, just as he now believes he should support Tinubu after what he described as a period of prayer and spiritual conviction.
Kawas therefore wants his present political choice to be judged on its own terms, rather than being used to question the sincerity of his earlier support for Obi.
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