ROME (CNS): While the Catholic Church continues to play its part in helping people in Nigeria, the policies of the current government obstruct a clear path toward peace and reconciliation between Christians and Muslims, said Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah of Sokoto, Nigeria.
Addressing a virtual conference on peacebuilding, hosted by the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame, Bishop Kukah said the rise of banditry and violence in Nigeria “has taken over and consumed a lot of the gains we have made” in building peace.
“Just to tell you how little progress we have made, we still have a military general as our president. And, therefore, it is little wonder that this journey has proven to be a challenge and a source of great difficulty for our people,” he said on June 20. Attacks against Christians, especially Catholics, have been on the rise in the country.
On June 5, gunmen entered St. Francis Xavier Church in Owo, killing at least 50 people and leaving dozens wounded [Sunday Examiner, June 12]. Most recently, gunmen attacked churchgoers on June 20 at St. Moses Catholic Church as well as a neighbouring Baptist church in the northern state of Kaduna, killing three and kidnapping 40 people.
Bishop Kukah said the military background of Nigerian president, Muhammadu Buhari, “and lack of disposition toward the principles of democracy and democratisation” have eroded the gains in reconciliation between Christians and Muslims, and “the country is far more divided now than it has ever been.”
