THE Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Sokoto, Matthew Kukah, has urged the international community not to re-designate Nigeria as a “country of particular concern” over religious freedom violations, warning that such a move would “hurt ongoing national efforts” to restore peace and religious harmony.
Speaking at the launch of the Aid to the Church in Need (ACIN) 2025 World Report on Religious Freedom in Vatican City on Tuesday, October 21, Kukah, acknowledged Nigeria’s “long and painful history” of persecution, but argued that the current administration under President Bola Tinubu had shown “a genuine willingness to listen and act differently” compared to the previous government.
“Re-designating Nigeria a Country of Concern will only make our work in dialogue among religious leaders and with the Nigerian state even harder. It will increase tensions, sow doubt, open windows of suspicion and fear, and allow criminals and perpetrators of violence to exploit,” Kukah warned.
The cleric said that the ACIN 2025 World Report on Religious Freedom, a 1,248-page global study covering January 2023 to December 2024, found that over 5.4 billion people worldwide lived in countries without religious freedom.
While the report noted a 37 per cent decline in terrorist attacks in Nigeria in 2024, it warned that Christians and moderate Muslims remained at risk due to discriminatory laws, violence, and state inaction.
The ICIR reported that the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) backed the claims by United States lawmakers alleging a genocide against Christians in Nigeria.
The CAN in reaction to the renewed claims of Christian persecution in Nigeria by prominent figures in the United States, stated that Christian communities, especially in northern Nigeria, suffered severe assaults, loss of lives, and destruction of places of worship.
While painting a picture of security situation in the country, describing Nigeria as “a weak state on the cusp of anarchy”, where “Nigerians are dying for a living,” Kukah in his Tuesday’s address said the situation was not as black-and-white as it is often portrayed internationally.
“If we were dealing with outright persecution of Christians on grounds of identity, both myself and my small flock in Sokoto would not exist,” he said, recounting how the Sultan of Sokoto personally provided accommodation for his guests during his episcopal installation in 2011 and recently joined him in commissioning an ICT centre for youths.
He stressed that Nigeria’s problem was beyond religious persecution to deep governance failure and systemic impunity that cut across faith and ethnicity.
“We do have serious problems but these have escalated because the federal and state governments have, over the years, allowed these problems to fester. The inability of the federal government and its security agencies to end these killings has created the condition for the genocide that has taken over many communities today.
“By whatever names we choose, the fact is that Nigerians are dying unacceptable deaths across the country. In many cases, they are targeted because of their beliefs but also because of their ethnicity. We are in the cusp of a weak state with clear lack of capacity to arrest the descent into anarchy,” he added.
The cleric pointed at the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari, calling it “the worst phase in the history of interfaith relations in Nigeria.”
“The last eight years of the Buhari administration marked the worst phase in the history of interfaith relations in Nigeria, especially relating to violence against Christians and their exclusion from power.
“That administration gave oxygen to jihadists by virtue of its policies which overtly favoured Islam and northern Nigeria. The president himself was a Muslim, ensured that the Senate President, the Speaker, the Deputy Speaker, the entire leadership of security was entrusted to the hands of only Muslims, almost all from the North. This was a departure from the sensibilities that had characterised power sharing in Nigeria.”
Kukah lauded Tinubu’s early steps in restoring inclusion, noting that his appointments showed balance and sensitivity.
“The President and Vice President are Muslims, yet Christians have not felt alienated. The Chief of Army Staff, the DSS Director, and several others are Christians. These are confidence-building measures,” he said.
The Bishop urged Tinubu to take bolder steps by challenging the constitutionality of the adoption of Sharia law by 12 northern states, describing it as a violation of Nigeria’s secular status.
“The president should go to court to have the adoption of Sharia declared unconstitutional. It is the only way to arrest mob justice and killings under the guise of blasphemy,” he said, referencing victims like Deborah Samuel in Sokoto and Bridget Agbahime in Kano.
He lamented persistent discrimination against Christians in northern states, including denial of land for church building, destruction of worship centres without reconstruction, and lack of access to religious education for Christian pupils in public schools.
Kukah accused the US former presidents Barrack Obama and Joe Biden administrations of complicity in Nigeria’s prolonged insecurity, claiming their refusal to supply arms to the former president Goodluck Jonathan’s government “set back the fight against Boko Haram.”
“Their decision to block access to weapons and their drive to impose Buhari on Nigeria pushed us backward,” he said, calling on President Donald Trump, who he credited with “historic achievements in the Middle East” to lift the ban and help Nigeria acquire the military tools it needs.
Kukah appealed to the Western governments and international partners to “support, not punish” Nigeria in its current recovery efforts.
“We have sinned and fallen short, but there are visible signs of renewal. Punishing Nigeria now will strengthen extremists and weaken moderates.
“What Nigeria needs now is vigilance and collaboration from civil society, not condemnation. We must build a country where no one is oppressed,” he said.
He expressed optimism that with the right support, religious leaders and the Nigerian government could “map out strategies towards national harmony and integration”, noting that Nigeria, as Africa’s most populous country, “can make a great contribution to global peace if freed from the virus of extremism.”
Nanji is an investigative journalist with the ICIR. She has years of experience in reporting and broadcasting human angle stories, gender inequalities, minority stories, and human rights issues. She has documented sexual war crimes in armed conflict, sex for grades in Nigerian Universities, harmful traditional practices and human trafficking.