The Catholic Bishops of Nigeria have released a bold and prophetic statement on the state of the nation—one that echoes from the depths of our moral conscience with spiritual authority and pastoral urgency. With clarity and grief, the bishops lament the persistent violence that has “claimed many lives, destroyed homes, and displaced families.” Their sorrow is rooted in the disproportionate suffering of Christians across the Northern and Middle Belt regions, where entire communities have endured “repeated and brutal attacks,” resulting in “heavy casualties and tragic loss of many Christian lives.”
Yet the bishops, with fidelity to truth and Catholic Social Teaching, affirm that Muslims and other innocent citizens of diverse ethnic backgrounds have also been victims of the same brutality. Invoking African moral wisdom, they denounce these attacks as a desecration of our common humanity.
They express grave alarm at the unending cycles of violence and at the routine failure of Nigeria’s security agencies to respond adequately. These failures, they note, create “the impression of possible collusion or a lack of will to act.” They warn that the occupation of entire communities, attacks on displaced persons in IDP camps, and the unbearable living conditions imposed on millions have deepened despair and “given credence to allegations of ‘genocide’ in some quarters.”
Their statement is graphic in detail: abductions, kidnappings, widespread displacement, targeted killings, and the murders of security personnel—including the recent killing of Brigadier General Musa Uba—all of which “attest to the troubling scale of the security crisis.” The bishops insist that this pervasive criminality has “penetrated our national life,” threatening Nigeria’s future and violating our shared humanity.
The bishops go further: the federal and state governments have failed in their fundamental duty to protect life. Their indictment is unambiguous—“the government has both the responsibility and the means to end this violence and must no longer allow impunity to prevail.” Without accountability, they warn, “there can be no lasting peace.”
They call for the immediate rescue of all abducted persons—including the girls taken in Kebbi, the students and teachers kidnapped in Kontagora, and the young women abducted in Borno—and urge the government to ensure that displaced Nigerians can safely return to their ancestral homes.
Why This Statement Matters
This statement is significant because it avoids partisan noise and simplistic ideological binaries. Instead, the bishops offer a morally rigorous and factually grounded appraisal of Nigeria’s crisis.
First, they affirm that Nigeria is suffering under incompetent and irresponsible leadership at all levels. The bishops root their warning in constitutional authority: Section 14(2)(b) of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution is unequivocal—the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government. When criminals operate with impunity and citizens lose confidence in institutions meant to defend them, the very legitimacy of governance is shaken.
They insist that perpetrators of atrocities must be brought to justice, and that government must act urgently to secure abducted persons and restore displaced communities.
Second, the bishops reject narratives that reduce Nigeria’s crisis solely to “religious persecution” or “genocide.” They acknowledge the deep, disproportionate violence suffered by Christians—villages razed, priests murdered at the altar, faithful massacred, families living under perpetual threat. But they warn that these realities cannot be captured by simplistic labels.
Nigeria is not confronting an organized state policy against Christians; rather, it is grappling with the consequences of state failure, captured governance, and predatory elites who weaponize insecurity for political and economic gain. Citizens have been turned into pawns in a ruthless and rudderless power struggle.
The bishops’ reading of the moment is sober and accurate. They highlight persistent violations of the rights of Christian minorities in northern states, including discriminatory applications of Sharia law and harassment by Hisbah enforcement groups. They recall the horrific killing of Deborah Samuel Yakubu in Sokoto—a symbol of mob violence and the erosion of the rule of law.
At the same time, the bishops warn against binary, inflammatory readings of Nigeria’s crisis. This is timely, because many Nigerians are adopting extremist frameworks that scapegoat religion rather than acknowledging political mismanagement and the weaponization of religion.
These extremist frameworks include:
- The Islamist division of the world into dār al-Islām (the abode of Islam) and dār al-ḥarb (the abode of war),
- And the apocalyptic narratives of right-wing American Christian nationalism, which cast global events as a war between an “axis of evil” (represented by Islamist supremacists and radical Islamists) and an “axis of light” (represented by Christian communities and nations).
Both worldviews obscure reality, deepen fractures, and fuel cycles of hostility.
Crucially, the bishops refuse to be distracted by foreign political rhetoric—whether speculative statements from the American President or predictions of foreign intervention. They urge Nigerians to resist divisive arguments about “who has suffered more,” and to unite in defending the sacredness of every human life.
In declining to endorse calls for foreign intervention, they affirm the dignity, agency, and resilience of Nigerians. The future of Nigeria lies in the hands of God and the Nigerian people—not in the maneuvers of external actors.
Thus, their message becomes a battle cry for justice, peacebuilding, Gospel nonviolence, and the common good—a call to activate the “better angels of our nature” so that the “labours of our heroes past shall not be in vain.”
What Should Happen Next
This statement deserves to be read in every parish, mission, and Catholic institution in Nigeria. Nigerian theologians, catechists, and pastoral agents should study it, develop contextual strategies for implementation, and transform it into a catechetical and pastoral tool for renewing Church–state engagement.
The bishops should establish an implementation commission mandated to design a pastoral framework guided by the central question:
What would Nigeria look like if this document shaped our Church–state relations?
Nigeria needs a renewed moral policy for clergy engagement with political actors. If governance failure is the root problem—as the bishops rightly assert—then the Church must model moral clarity and principled distance. Many Nigerians are scandalized by the cozy relationships between some clerics and politicians, especially when dioceses accept private political donations not clearly directed to public goods such as schools or hospitals. What might once have been interpreted as generosity now undermines the Church’s witness in a political environment widely perceived as corrupt, prurient, and morally contaminating.
Ultimately, corrupt political elites should come into the presence of the Church not smiling triumphantly, but weeping for their sins, repenting, and pledging to rebuild the nation they have helped to break.
If the bishops’ statement becomes a living pastoral plan—not a one-time declaration—it can help lead Nigeria out of what increasingly resembles a national necropolis, where dreams die young and the “labours of our heroes past” risk becoming hollow.
For this courageous and needed intervention, the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria deserves the support and gratitude of all people of goodwill. May their prophetic voice catalyze truth, justice, healing, and the rebirth of a wounded nation.
May their February 2026 plenary be a moment of collective discernment, accountability, and renewal—an opportunity to evaluate how this statement has guided a nation walking upon a darkling plain of pain, tears, fear, loss, sorrow, and suffering.