Catholic Bishop on Dilemma of Priests in “dysfunctional environment such as Nigeria”

Sokoto, 29 January, 2026 / 5:49 PM

A Catholic Priest in Nigeria operates in a complex environment where he is expected to remain silent when things go wrong, Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah of the country’s Catholic Diocese of Sokoto has said.

Still, men of God who speak up against social evils are judged, Bishop Kukah said in a Wednesday, January 28 podcast, describing the West African nation as “a broken country” and a “dysfunctional environment” for Priests.

Speaking to the Diocese of Sokoto’s Director of Communications in the podcast that sought his sentiments on “senseless” killings and abductions in Nigeria, Bishop Kukah found it unfortunate that amid insecurity, what is expected of a Priest in the country is “I should be in my sacristy either praying or having nothing to say.”

“We are accused of saying nothing. We are accused when we say something,” he said, and added, “When you speak, those who are happy with you tell you, well done, you are speaking truth to power. When you speak, those who are not happy with you tell you that you are getting yourself involved in politics.”

He said that in a country with complex challenges such as Nigeria, Priests cannot afford to remain silent.

“If you are a priest in a dysfunctional environment such as Nigeria, you are constantly being called upon to help resolve the problems of people,” Bishop Kukah said.

While conversations about the persecution of Christians in Nigeria attracted international attention towards the end of last year, the vocal Bishop faced backlash for alleging that it is not just Christians who are being killed because of their faith.

There was widespread criticism when Bishop Kukah said that that it is not just Christians who are being persecuted in Nigeria, noting that “floods of blood in Nigeria” today “have no boundaries.”

He said that “terrorist and murderous groups” who first emerged, targeting Church structures, kidnapping Priests, the Religious, Seminarians and other pastoral agents, while “invoking the words like, allahu akubar”, are now also killing Muslims who do not believe in their brand of Islam.

Amid the criticism, Bishop Kukah expressed regret that his position on the anguish of Christians in the West African nation was being misinterpreted.

In the January 28 podcast, the Bishop of Sokoto said that Nigeria experiences unique challenges that prompt spiritual leaders to respond in unique ways.

“To be a priest in a broken country like Nigeria is not the same as being a priest in America or being a priest in Europe where systems have already been set,” Bishop Kukah said.

He added, “If a man beats his wife in the United Kingdom, he'll end up in prison. But in Nigeria, you can beat your wife and still go to church and come back, beat your wife and still go to work and come back. So the demands on every priest are enormous.”

The Bishop of Sokoto said that Church leaders in Nigeria “inevitably” find themselves dragged into politics when they call attention to what is right, what is just and what is fair.

He reflected on why there are so many killings in Nigeria, and whether life is still regarded as sacred in the troubled West African country.

Nigeria reportedly accounts for 72 percent of Christian killings in the world. According to Bishop Kukah, early warnings that the country would be where it is now were ignored.

“You look at what is driving the senseless killings, we have only come to a point in which we can now see the killings. But if we developed a sharper radar, we should have seen most of all this coming up much longer than now,” he said.

He however blamed killings and abductions in Nigeria on “distortions in the Nigerian landscape” and “the inability of the state to manage effectively and efficiently the resources that our country possesses.”

“A structural design of a system that produces corruption and inefficiency is what has brought us to where we are now to the point that even the killers have developed a sense of righteousness by saying, well, they are doing this because the country has ignored them,” he said.

“I think at the heart of the killings and the abductions, tragic as they are, will be for us to have the courage to accept that at another level, those who govern Nigeria have also to a great extent been guilty of these charges of abducting this particular resource of state,” he said.

Bishop Kukah described the killings and abductions in Nigeria as “evidence of the moral, the collapse of the moral fabric of our society.”

“These are not things you hear about even in our neighboring countries, not to talk about other parts of the world. So the question all of us should ask ourselves, although it's convenient for us to point at the government is, how did we get to this point? And what really did we contribute by doing or not doing?” he said.

Bishop Kukah cautioned against focusing solely on the government in the search for a solution to what is ailing Nigeria, saying, “The killers and the murderers are among us.”

He said that with the incessant killings in Nigeria, life is no longer considered sacred.

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“Not everybody believes that life is given by God because many of us have assumed that we have a right to take life and nothing will happen,” he said, adding that the sacredness of life is however “directly related to our readiness and willingness to treat each and everyone as if they are ourselves or our brothers and our sisters.”