Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Matthew Kukah, has cautioned against drawing hasty conclusions about Nigeria’s security situation, saying the country is only experiencing a brief pause in violence.
Speaking during an interview on Arise Television on Wednesday, the 1st of October, 2025, Kukah responded to President Bola Tinubu’s Independence Day address, which declared that insecurity in Nigeria had ended. The cleric disagreed, stressing that such an assessment was premature.
“Nobody can say the threat is over. We have entered a lull, and major progress has been made. There is a substantial sense of lull but not that insecurity is over,” he said.
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Kukah recalled a recent experience to illustrate his point. “Only yesterday, a young Fulani boy who is still being held said he had to climb a tree to call me. Let’s appreciate the fact that we are in a fairly better place, but there is still a lot to be done.”
He explained that insecurity goes beyond armed attacks, noting that it stems from deeper social and structural problems that Nigeria must confront.