Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese and National Peace Committee Convener, Most Rev. Matthew Hassan Kukah, has strongly dismissed claims that Christians in Nigeria are victims of genocide. The intervention, which has reignited the Kukah Christian genocide debate, comes amid growing circulation of unverified statistics and politically charged narratives.
Speaking at the 46th Supreme Convention of the Knights of St. Mulumba (KSM) in Kaduna, Kukah clarified that neither the Vatican, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference nor the global Church recognises Nigeria as experiencing Christian genocide.
Kukah Christian Genocide Debate: Bishop Says Data Is Manipulated, Intent Not Proven
Kukah argued that some widely quoted figures—including claims that 1,200 churches are burnt annually—are fabricated and have never been verified with the Catholic Church.
“They say 1,200 churches are burnt in Nigeria every year. In which Nigeria? Nobody approached the Catholic Church for accurate data,”
he said.
He explained that genocide is not defined by the number of deaths but by intent to eliminate an identifiable group.
“You can kill 10 million people and it still won’t amount to genocide unless intent is established,” he added.
Religious Anxiety × Political Manipulation × Misinformation
Kukah suggested that some actors are deliberately exploiting religious narratives to deepen division and provoke international intervention.
He said many who push the Christian genocide narrative avoid engaging Catholic leadership because “Catholics do not indulge in hearsay.”
The Bishop also criticised those who reduce every killing to religious martyrdom.
“If someone is killed in a church, does that automatically make them a martyr? We must think more deeply,”
he noted.
Catholic Church Position: No Evidence of Targeted Elimination
Kukah emphasised that the Church’s data, field reports and regional monitoring do not support the conclusion of an intentional, systematic campaign to eliminate Nigerian Christians.
He said the real challenge is internal disunity, not persecution.
“Christians succumb to bullies. The day we stand together, these things will stop,”
he said.
Global Misinformation and the Struggle for Narrative Power
Security researchers say Nigeria’s conflict landscape—defined by banditry, terrorism, farmer–herder clashes and organised crime—is often misrepresented as a purely religious war.
The Kukah Christian genocide debate highlights the national struggle between evidence-based analysis and the weaponisation of fear.