Bishop Kukah needs no introduction. He’s a household name; a revered clergy and well respected personality; a persistent advocate of peace and religious harmony. His name open many if not all doors in Nigeria. He is one with the ears of Nigeria’s mightiest— those who could make things happen with a single stroke of the pen. 

It’s for this I find Bishop Kukah’s choice of methods and forums for peace and religious harmony advocacy very contradictory and somewhat inimical to any idea of peaceful co-existence and religious harmony among Nigerians. 

In a recent interview with Arise News, the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, expressed concern about “a growing prevalence of ethnic and religious prejudices in Nigerian universities, especially in the northern region of the country.” Kukah alleged that most universities in the North have refused to allow the Christian community to establish worship centres on the school premises.

That Bishop Kukah, knowing fully the respect he enjoys among Nigeria’s Christian community and even beyond, made no effort to substantiate this heavy allegation which could widen Nigeria’s easily identifiable religious fault line, put to question his motive for going public with such a clearly dangerous and unverified concern. This is even more confusing considering the many doors Kukah could knock and lay the facts of his concern for prompt attention and action. 

To further question the sincerity and motive of Kukah’s concern, let me say without fear of contradiction, one could vote for Bishop Kukah as the biggest beneficiary of northern hospitality and religious tolerance. Living in Sokoto, the seat of the caliphate, unarguably the political capital of Nigerian Muslims. Wait for it! Bishop is not only living in Sokoto but heading a Catholic Diocese and peacefully conducting evangelical activities expected of a diocese without inhibition or even a clear indication of awareness of the activities of the diocese by his hospitable host community, Sokoto, the seat of the caliphate even with occasional attempts to provoke the entire Nigerian Muslim community like the unrealistic and clearly provocative offer to rehabilitate and train in skill acquisitions of their choice an estimated 10 million “almajiri” in the Muslim North — a gimmick I debunked in an article titled “BISHOP KUKAH’S OPTION OF ANARCHY AND THE NEED TO BE VIGILANT” (please google and read Bishop Kukah’s Option Of Anarchy And The Need To Be Vigilant – Desert Herald.)

Not only is Bishop Kukah living happily in Sokoto and enjoying the hospitality of the seat of the caliphate, his Sokoto Diocese is operating and making in-road; in the north with new dioceses springing up in states hitherto considered traditional Muslim states like Katsina where he was recently a guest when he came calling to establish the Katsina Diocese. 

One will sure like to know if it’s the same north that’s hospitable and tolerant enough to permit the establishment of the Sokoto and Katsina Dioceses that will turn around and prevent Christians the right to have worship centers in its universities? Something is not adding up. By the way, with a Christian Senate President and a Christian Deputy Speaker, one is left wondering what they did with “Bishop Kukah’s petition” on this matter. Ditto, one will like to know what the National Universities Commission (NUC) did with such a petition if one was ever written. If none was written, one could only speculate the motive of Bishop Kukah for making such allegations in the studios of the Arise TV. 

Let me make clear how deeply rooted religious tolerance is in the north using my home state, Katsina State, as a proof. Today in Katsina city, all the major churches serving the christian community are located in the highbrow GRA and the elitist Kofar Kaura Layout where they are operating without inhibition or intimidation. But for the new mosques built recently, one by former Governor Ibrahim Shema and the other by late former IGP, Ibrahim Commasie, I would have claimed that there’s no mosque with as much close proximity with both the old and new Katsina Government Houses from any direction as all the major churches in the ancient. This is a challenge to anybody to say as much about mosques in the Southern States of Nigeria.

Lastly, attached are profiles and locations of various Chapels in northern universities to debunk in its entirety any impression of hostility against christians in northern universities as alleged by Bishop Kukah. Of course, unless if it’s another northern Nigeria under review. 

It’s truly time to stop experimenting with our fault lines.