Priest leads church song backing Obi and Kwankwaso ahead of 2027
- A video circulating on X shows a Catholic priest leading worshippers in an Igbo song praising Peter Obi and Rabiu Kwankwaso's party.
- The clip has renewed debate about religious leaders taking sides in politics before the 2027 elections.
- It comes as a bishops' group endorsed President Tinubu for a second term and a Kano cleric urged a Muslim-Muslim ticket.
A video making the rounds on X shows a Catholic priest leading his congregation in a song that praises Peter Obi and his running mate, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, and the party they are contesting under.
The song, sung in Igbo, calls the party of the two men the better choice. Obi is the presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) for the 2027 election, with Kwankwaso as his running mate.
The clip has sparked fresh talk about how openly religious leaders are wading into politics as the next general election draws closer.
Why it matters to voters
Church and mosque pulpits carry real weight in Nigeria. When a cleric sings a candidate's name or tells worshippers how to vote, many Nigerians take it seriously, and it can shape how whole communities lean at the polls.
This is not the first such moment. In August, an Islamic cleric, Sani Jingir, was reported to have told Muslims to back a Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket in 2027. He spoke at a mass wedding in Kano organised by the state government for 1,500 couples, and argued that Muslims should vote in line with their numbers.
Kwankwaso criticised those remarks in a post on X.
President Bola Tinubu and Vice-President Kashim Shettima, both Muslims, currently hold the country's two top offices. Nigeria has an informal habit of balancing tickets by faith, usually a Muslim at the top and a Christian as running mate.
Bishops back Tinubu
On the other side, the Charismatic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) has endorsed Tinubu for a second term. The group announced its decision at its 2026 synod in Abuja, with the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, George Akume, and the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, in attendance.
Its President-General, Leonard Kawas, said the conference has members in 52 countries, including 950 canonical bishops in Nigeria. He recalled that the group had raised concerns about the All Progressives Congress (APC) running a Muslim-Muslim ticket in 2023, but said Tinubu had since appointed Christians to key posts and shown he can accommodate Nigeria's diversity.
We are here today to reassure him of our solid support,
Kawas said, adding that the group would keep standing with the president, including in 2027.
What happens next: expect more of these moments. With campaigns still ahead, religious bodies and their leaders are likely to keep weighing in, and voters will have to decide how much pulpit politics should count when they cast their ballots.
