Christians Not Allowed Places Of Worship In Some Northern Tertiary Institutions - Bishop Kukah

The Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sokoto, Matthew Kukah, has alleged marginalisation of Christian students in some tertiary institutions in northern Nigeria.

Speaking at a book launch organised by PREMIUM TIMES Books on Wednesday, Mr Kukah accused northern governors of aiding the alleged injustice.

“As I’m talking here now, whether it is Bayero University, Usman Dan Fodio University, most of the universities and tertiary institutions in northern Nigeria, Christians don’t have a place to worship after over 40 years of the existence of these universities and these are the areas where the intellectuals, those who are going to govern Nigeria, this is where they are.

“Up till today, as I’m talking to you, you can’t find a single governor in northern Nigeria that will effortlessly sign a certificate of occupancy for the building of a church. Nowhere,” Mr Kukah lamented.

The cleric said the academic and security environment in the country discourage having frank discussion on insecurity.

He accused Nigerian scholars of fuelling crisis by their views and teachings.

“Northern Nigeria is literally a closed book. And our inability to understand northern Nigeria collectively as a nation accounts for most of the crisis we still face in this country.

“We have a very serious crisis in our country. A crisis that relates to the fact that those who are in academia are simply miniature gods of ethnic hegemony. We can see from reactions, Boko Haram, politics in Nigeria, 2019 and others, when you listen to academicians, what we are saying are not different from what the people in our villages feel.

“We were barely six months or so into this crisis when I published an article titled ‘Bread, not bullet.’ I was trying to make the point that we needed a much more robust engagement based on our common humanity. We needed to hear the stories leading people to this kind of life rather than just turning this into a gun battle. Suddenly, few years later, we are shamelessly pretending that weapons for fighting have not been bought or money has been squandered.”

Mr Kukah said the orientation of northern children prepares them for violence against non-Muslims.

“I live in Sokoto and I have windows of my churches broken because young children are throwing stones at the cathedral. I had one of my parishioners went blind three years ago. His house was by the roadside. Children coming from Quranic studies threw stones to his house. I’m asking the question, what are these children being thought about the other person? This is a very serious crisis in northern Nigeria.

“These kids will grow up and I can’t stop them from burning my church because they have given them, their superiors have given them impression that somehow, not being a Muslim, you belong to a different specie.”

He urged Nigerians to come together to identity themselves first as humans and not religious adherents. He gave instances to buttress his point.

“The point I’m making is that people are behaving like I cannot be a non-Muslim and study Islam. We have a crisis at our hands. A cousin of mine who is a non-Muslim just came back from Egypt. His Arabic is most likely better than that of most people in Nigeria but, in the course of his programme, he was sent out on the ground that he’s doing too much of Arabic and truly he was digging much more than the people that are teaching.

“We used to have a professor who was a priest. In fact, many call him a Muslim because everything about him is Muslim but he ran into a problem in the University of Ibadan because Muslims are now saying, ‘can you be a priest and talk to us about Islam?’

“Really, one of the problems northern Nigeria must address is the limit of intellectual curiosity. These are some of the boundaries that Raufu crosses effortlessly.

“A cousin of mine, he’s dead now, living in Kano called me one day and said his little son just brought a beautiful result but had 85 per cent in Arabic. And he said to me, why will this boy have 85 per cent in Arabic? I asked what is the problem? He said no, he got 70 per cent in CRK, why will he go and have 85 per cent in Arabic? I said Arabic is a subject. He said no, he could become a Muslim tomorrow.”

Mr Kukah praised Raufu Mustapha, the editor of the two books unveiled, for his unrelenting hope in Nigeria while alive.

“I spent a good part of my evening at Raufu’s office and I would listen to him talk about Nigeria and I always marvelled at the depth of his scholarship,” he said.

“In a very strange kind of way, this ray of hope that he had in the horizon. Things were very bad but he always believed that there was a lot of hope.”

Afamed:
Which of the Northern Federal institutions?

Mr Kukah said the orientation of northern children prepares them for violence against non-Muslisms

Agritech:
Also there are many Universities in the east and South south where there are no mosques for the Muslim students to pray. One of such is Michael Opara university of agricultural. In this universities lecture/exams hold during time for Muslim Friday prayers.

Agritech:
Also there are many Universities in the east and South south where there are no mosques for the Muslim students to pray. One of such is Michael Opara university of agricultural. In this universities lecture/exams hold during time for Muslim Friday prayers.

Agritech:
Also there are many Universities in the east and South south where there are no mosques for the Muslim students to pray. One of such is Michael Opara university of agricultural. In this universities lecture/exams hold during time for Muslim Friday prayers.

Shelumiel:
I do know why Muslims keep playing victims when I come to issues like this. In southern and eastern Nigeria, freedom of worship is given to each and every person (so long as it is within the confines of the norms of the people living there ). But you cannot see that in Northern Nigeria . An example is Katsina: You will hardly , I repeat , hardly see a church in Katsina . In fact , most churches are located within the barracks of soldiers or policemen . This evil trend should stop if we are to call ourselves "one Nigeria ".

dlondonbadboy:
Religion of peace!

They only preach peace when they are few in number or new to a territory. But when they are majority they kill any opposing religion and oppress innocent christans. This technique was learnt from Satan the devil...

If you give them a taste of their own medicine they would start crying...

Why I'm sharing this country with some set of people is something I can't quite understand...

rhid1:


I don't know if you've ever been to or lived in Katsina. I got my degree there, even did my NYSC camping there. With all due respect, I can tell you this supposed assertion of yours is false. The number of Christian friends I have in Katsina who attends different churches within the metropolis are numerous. A statement such as this is not only false but divisive.
Even in my Alma mater, we have only one mosque but numerous churches pitch their tents everywhere even on school days.

Enjoy the rest of your day bro

Agritech:
Also there are many Universities in the east and South south where there are no mosques for the Muslim students to pray. One of such is Michael Opara university of agricultural. In this universities lecture/exams hold during time for Muslim Friday prayers.

WithX:


I'm sure you must be an educated fellow you commented either out of ignorance or hatred. Have u ever called any of ur friends or relatives in those schools to confirm such assertion?
I knew the clergyman was on a mission the moment I saw Bayero University Kano on his list. Presently I am a student of the school and I can confirm to you that Christians in the school do not only have place of worship they have a voice.
They have a central fellowship ( which even have a hummer bus) and there are fellowship for denomination as well.
Pls always take a minute to verify any thing you ready before u post your comment

Elummah:
And there are universities in the south that don't even consider northerners (particularly Muslims) for admission.

rhid1:


I don't know if you've ever been to or lived in Katsina. I got my degree there, even did my NYSC camping there. With all due respect, I can tell you this supposed assertion of yours is false. The number of Christian friends I have in Katsina who attends different churches within the metropolis are numerous. A statement such as this is not only false but divisive.
Even in my Alma mater, we have only one mosque but numerous churches pitch their tents everywhere even on school days.

Enjoy the rest of your day bro

WithX:


I'm sure you must be an educated fellow you commented either out of ignorance or hatred. Have u ever called any of ur friends or relatives in those schools to confirm such assertion?
I knew the clergyman was on a mission the moment I saw Bayero University Kano on his list. Presently I am a student of the school and I can confirm to you that Christians in the school do not only have place of worship they have a voice.
They have a central fellowship ( which even have a hummer bus) and there are fellowship for denomination as well.
Pls always take a minute to verify any thing you ready before u post your comment

dlondonbadboy:
Religion of peace!

They only preach peace when they are few in number or new to a territory. But when they are majority they kill any opposing religion and oppress innocent christans. This technique was learnt from Satan the devil...

If you give them a taste of their own medicine they would start crying...

Why I'm sharing this country with some set of people is something I can't quite understand...

Agritech:
Also there are many Universities in the east and South south where there are no mosques for the Muslim students to pray. One of such is Michael Opara university of agricultural. In this universities lecture/exams hold during time for Muslim Friday prayers.