Kukah Centre Slams “Distorted” Reports, Reasserts Bishop Kukah’s Stand on Christian Persecution

|By Chinwendu Nwani

The Kukah Centre (TKC) has rebuked what it calls widespread distortion of Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah’s recent remarks on worsening religious freedom challenges and the persecution of Christians in Northern Nigeria.

In a statement issued Monday, TKC faulted media reports that allegedly selectively quoted and misrepresented the bishop’s comments from two public events — the launch of the 2025 World Report on Religious Freedom at the Vatican on October 21, and his keynote address at the 46th Supreme Convention of the Knights of St. Mulumba in Kaduna on October 28.

According to the Centre, claims suggesting Bishop Kukah downplayed Christian persecution are false. It stressed that the cleric’s stance has remained “consistent and unequivocal” over the years.

TKC cited paragraph five of Kukah’s Vatican presentation, where he condemned the deteriorating security situation and the government’s failure to halt targeted killings.

“We do have serious problems… 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… In many cases, they are targeted because of their beliefs but also because of their ethnicity,” Kukah had stated.

The Centre also clarified that Bishop Kukah’s Kaduna address — which traced persecution from the crucifixion of Christ to the martyrdom of early disciples — was meant to strengthen Christian communities through messages of faith, solidarity, justice and healing.

“These — faith, solidarity, justice, and healing — are goals to which His Lordship has made a life-long commitment and in whose pursuit he yields to no one,” the Centre said, insisting the speech affirmed, rather than minimised, the current realities of Christian persecution.