Rights group criticize Bishop Kukah over comments about genocide in Nigeria

The Executive Director of the International Society for Civil Liberties and the Rule of Law (Intersociety), Emeka Umeagbalasi, has strongly criticized Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah, questioning the cleric’s impartiality in addressing claims of a Christian genocide in Nigeria.

In exclusive comments to CWR, Umeagbalasi challenged Kukah’s claim that statistics on Christian persecution are unverified. He presented what he termed a “mountain of evidence” from various dioceses and international bodies.

The fiery response comes after Bishop Kukah, a prominent voice in Nigeria, dismissed claims of a coordinated genocide against Christians.

Speaking at the Vatican on October 21 during the launch of Aid to the Church in Need’s Religious Freedom in the World Report 2025, which effectively spotlights Nigeria as one of the worst places to live in for a Christian, Kukah failed to denounce the suffering of Christians in Nigeria. Instead, the Bishop of Sokoto said Nigerians of all stripes suffer, due mainly to insecurity and state weakness.

“If we were dealing with outright persecution of Christians on grounds of identity, both myself and my small flock would not exist,” Kukah said, explaining that he travels freely in the northwestern Nigerian state, with no one troubling him because of his faith. Sokoto is a largely Muslim area.

“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 a clear lack of capacity to arrest the descent into anarchy.”

Speaking on Friday, November 28, at the 46th Supreme Convention of the Knights of St. Mulumba (KSM) in Kaduna, Kukah doubled down on his denial of a Christian genocide in Nigeria.

“People say there is genocide in Nigeria,” stated Kukah. “My argument is that it is not accurate to claim there is genocide or martyrdom in Nigeria,” noting that Muslims are also killed by extremists.

He questioned data that have been advanced to justify claims of genocide in the African country.

“They are saying that 1,200 churches are burnt in Nigeria every year, and I ask myself, in which Nigeria? Interestingly, nobody approached the Catholic Church to get accurate data.”

“We do not know where these figures came from. All those talking about persecution; has anyone ever called to ask, ‘Bishop Kukah, what is the situation?’ The data being circulated cleverly avoids the Catholic Church because they know Catholics do not indulge in hearsay.”

The cleric then proceeded to explain the meaning of “genocide,” saying that it is not based on the number of people killed.

“You can kill 10 million people and it still won’t amount to genocide,” he said.

“The critical determinant is intent; whether the aim is to eliminate a group of people. So, you don’t determine genocide by numbers; you determine it by intention. We need to be more clinical in the issues we discuss.”

Kukah: A compromised Bishop?

In comments to CWR, Emeka Umeagbalasi, the executive Director of Intersociety, questioned Bishop Kukah’s standing to speak for the Catholic Church in Nigeria.

“Who the hell is he? Is he the owner of the Catholic Church?” Umeagbalasi queried, describing Kukah’s diocese in Sokoto as “one of the smallest” and “not even an archdiocese.” He argued that the laity, not the clergy, are the true owners of the Church, and that Kukah speaks only for his own small flock, which he alleged is “nearing the nadir of emptiness.”

The core of Umeagbalasi’s argument centered on what he claims is a betrayal by a clergyman who has become compromised by his ties to the government. He highlighted Kukah’s recent appointment as Pro-Chancellor of a university in Kaduna, labeling him a “Nigerian government appointee.”

“If somebody is a federal government appointee, the person has robbed himself of independent mindedness, and the person has also robbed himself of sound and neutral judgment,” Umeagbalasi stated. He claimed that instead of maintaining silence on critical national issues, Kukah is now “speaking in defence of the government.”

The evidence

To counter Kukah’s “no statistics” claim, the Intersociety director reeled off a barrage of figures and incidents from across the country. In the Diocese of Bukuru, Umeagbalasi cited a report by the local bishop, which states that “355 churches have been lost to foreign jihadists” between 2015 and 2025. He said an estimated 400 Christian villages have been uprooted in southern Taraba alone.

In the Diocese of Maiduguri, Umeagbalasi referenced the local bishop’s testimony to the UK Parliament that over 215 churches were destroyed by Boko Haram and jihadists as of 2017, displacing 1.8 million people, predominantly Christians, from southern Borno.

Umeagbalasi provided stark statistics on clergy targeted, including a protest by Catholic priests in Imo State who disclosed that “not less than 47 reverend fathers were kidnapped and killed” in a decade. He added that the group Aid to the Church in Need reported 147 priests abducted and 11 killed in 10 years. “For this year alone, at least 15 Catholic priests have been abducted and four or five killed,” he told CWR.

He listed numerous attacks on other denominations, including the burning of an ECWA church in Borno, an attack on a church in Kaduna where the pastor was killed, and the abduction of dozens at the Christ Apostolic Church in Kwara.

“The evidence is overwhelming and comes from diverse, credible sources on the ground,” he asserted.

Statistics from Intersociety indicate that since 2010, at least 185,000 people have been killed on account of their faith in Nigeria, including 125,000 Christians and 60,000 nonviolent Muslims.

Further, 19,100 churches have been burned to the ground, and 1,100 entire Christian communities seized and occupied by jihadist forces allegedly backed or protected by the government. The violence, Umeagbalasi said, has fueled a humanitarian crisis, forcing an estimated 15 million people, mainly Christians, from their homes.

The statistics further reveal that 600 clerics were abducted and dozens had been killed or had vanished within the reporting period.

In the first seven months of 2025, more than 7,000 Christians were killed in Nigeria, according to Intersociety.

Umeagbalasi noted that moderate Muslims are killed as well, “but they are killed by fellow Muslims.”

“Are the moderate Muslims killed by extremist Christian groups?” he asked rhetorically. “Of course, the answer is no, because we do not have extremist Christian groups in Nigeria.”

He said the persecution of Christians gained traction during the presidency of Muhammadu Buhari, accusing the former president of recruiting “foreign jihadists” who are now responsible for many of the attacks targeting Christians today. Buhari, who died in July, was president of Nigeria from 2015 to 2023.

Umeagbalasi said that Buhari also positioned his fellow Fulani tribesmen in key positions in the military and in the government, and these are the people now acting as accomplices to jihadists.

The world is noticing

Bishop Kukah’s Christian genocide denial contradicts a growing global consensus that Nigerian Christians are systematically being wiped out.

“Christians of various denominations and moderate Muslims regularly die at the hands of Boko Haram, Fulani militants and other violent actors,” notes Genocide Watch, a Washington, DC-based non-governmental organization that works to prevent genocide.

Global Christian Concern says Nigeria has become known as “the world’s center of Christian martyrs,” with at least 4000 Christians killed in the country every year—often more than in the rest of the world combined.

And Open Doors describes the killing of Christians in Africa’s most populous country as “shockingly brutal in nature.”

Recently, the Trump administration re-designated Nigeria as a “Country of Particular Concern”, a designation by the U.S. Secretary of State for nations engaged in “systematic, ongoing, egregious violations of religious freedom,” as defined by the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA).

Trump has gone even further to threaten military intervention in Nigeria to protect Christians.

“If we attack, it will be fast, vicious, and sweet,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, while directing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to act.

“Yes sir, the Department of War is preparing for action,” Hegseth replied publicly. “Either the Nigerian Government protects Christians, or we will kill the Islamic Terrorists who are committing these horrible atrocities.”

During an event hosted on November 18 by the United States Mission to the United Nations (USUN), which brought together religious freedom advocates and experts to highlight the escalating threats facing Christians in Nigeria, US Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz said the protection of Christians was not a matter of politics but “a moral duty.”

“We need voices that pierce the silence we have heard from the international community, that humanize the statistics we keep hearing, and demand accountability,” he said.

Umeagbalasi told CWR that failure to act decisively could lead to the annihilation of Christianity in Nigeria by 2075.

He warned that unless church leaders break free from the “forbidden fruit” of political patronage, Nigeria faces a future where Christianity will be eroded, similar to what has happened in other historical regions.

“These are the people who are given the spiritual responsibility to grow the church, to develop the church. Now they are destroying the church by other means,” he said.