Bishop Anagbe has spoken extensively on persecution of Christians in Nigeria amid closure of Catholic Parishes across his Episcopal See and multiple displacements owing to heightened activities of Islamist Fulani herdsmen.
In a subsequent address to the 46th Supreme Convention of the Knights of St. Mulumba (KSM) in Kaduna on November 28, Bishop Kukah reportedly reaffirmed his stance that current claims of a genocide or systematic persecution of Christians in Nigeria are not supported by credible data.
Bishop Kukah argued that the claim “1,200 churches are burned every year in Nigeria”, lacks verification.
He asked, “In which Nigeria?”, pointing out that no one had checked with the Catholic Church to confirm such numbers.
The Bishop emphasized that “genocide” is defined not by the number of deaths or attacks alone, but by intent, whether there is a deliberate plan to eliminate a group. He said, “You can kill 10 million people, and it still won’t amount to genocide. What matters is intent.”
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He also challenged the use of terms such as “martyrdom”, pointing out that some violence might be criminal or opportunistic rather than motivated by religious hatred.
In his statement published on December 9, the Bishop of Sokoto gave his position on the situation of Christianity in Nigeria, saying, “For the records, I did not say that Christians are not persecuted in Nigeria!”
He said that in his November 28 address, he spoke about the challenges of “bearing witness to Christ in a time of persecution.”
“I drew lessons from history and the stories of brave men and women in Nigeria and Africa as models of witnessing in times such as these. I concluded that the greatest challenge for Christians was unity and solidarity,” Bishop Kukah said.
He added, “Given the huge human and material resources that we have as Christians in Nigeria, if only we stood together, I argued, we would have no reason to be victims of persecution. Nothing here implied a denial of the fate of Christians.”
The Bishop maintained that over the years, he had spoken extensively on the theme of persecution of Christians, and had argued “then as now” that “by whatever name we choose to call or describe our predicament, the bloodshed needs to end as soon as yesterday because our common humanity is at stake.”
Calling for urgent action to stop security in Nigeria, he said, “The government and its security agencies have an urgent responsibility to bring the perpetrators to account. It is their neglect of this duty or their failure to accomplish it that detains us all in an appearance of disagreement without difference.”
Agnes Aineah is a Kenyan journalist with a background in digital and newspaper reporting. She holds a Master of Arts in Digital Journalism from the Aga Khan University, Graduate School of Media and Communications and a Bachelor's Degree in Linguistics, Media and Communications from Kenya's Moi University. Agnes currently serves as a journalist for ACI Africa.
