Matthew Kukah, Catholic Bishop of the Sokoto Diocese, has dismissed reports suggesting he downplayed or denied the persecution of Christians in Nigeria, insisting his comments were misrepresented
Kukah spoke on Sunday during an appearance on Boiling Point, a radio programme, where he addressed the controversy surrounding his earlier remarks on insecurity and religious violence in the country.
The clarification comes against the backdrop of renewed international attention on Nigeria’s security situation. On October 31, United States President Donald Trump redesignated Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC), citing allegations of widespread violations of religious freedom, including claims of a Christian genocide. The CPC label is applied by the US government to countries accused of “systematic, ongoing, egregious violations of religious freedom.”
Nigeria’s government has consistently rejected the genocide narrative. Despite this, Trump escalated his rhetoric in November, warning that the United States could intervene militarily to protect Christians, following repeated claims by some American politicians that Christians were being targeted for extermination. On December 25, the US carried out air strikes on two terrorist hideouts in the Bauni forest area of Tangaza Local Government Area in Sokoto State.
Addressing the controversy, Kukah said he was alarmed by claims that he had denied Christian persecution.
“I never denied the killing of our people [Christians],” he said.
“I don’t want to go into the details of the mischaracterisation of what I said, but it shocked me that Christians were going around saying that I said there is no persecution of Christians in Nigeria.
“The only clarification I can give is that I have never denied that there is persecution of Christians in Nigeria. Whether it’s persecution, whether it’s genocide, by God, this thing ought not to have happened.
“Wherever we can get help from, Trump, whatever, these killings ought not to have happened in the first place.”
Kukah further stressed that Nigeria’s insecurity is not limited to one religious group, noting that violence and abductions cut across faith lines.
“In my central argument about security in Nigeria, it doesn’t matter where you are, whether you are Muslim, whether you are Christian, you are in danger of being abducted,” he said.
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