Nigerian bishop weights in on Christian persecution, US strikes on Islamic State militants
February 04, 2026
» Continue to this story on New York Times
CWN Editor's Note: The New York Times has published a laudatory profile of Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah of Sokoto, Nigeria, who ministers in an overwhelmingly Muslim region of Africa’s most populous nation.
“For months the bishop has been trying to tone down the fiery talk from Washington and certain quarters of Nigeria of what they called a Christian genocide in the country,” the Times reported. “Rather, he and many other Nigerians say, it is a complicated cycle of violence in a nation of some 240 million people that is evenly split between Muslims and Christians, and is victimizing both communities.”
While the prelate sees “clear signs” of the persecution of Christians, “the bishop points out that the targets of violence in Nigeria are not just Christians,” the report continued.
The Times reported that Bishop Kukah was “relieved” that the December US strikes on Islamic State militants in Nigeria targeted the “criminals causing the real problems in Nigeria”: that is, the “Islamist extremists in their hide-outs.”
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