Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Matthew Hassan Kukah, has said that many elderly people in Northern Nigeria have not yet forgiven or moved on from the 1966 assassinations of Sir Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna of Sokoto, and Prime Minister Tafawa Balewa.
Speaking on Arise Television’s Prime Time programme on Thursday evening, Bishop Kukah revealed that people in their 70s and 80s across the North still carry deep emotional wounds over the deaths of these two respected leaders, who were among Nigeria’s founding fathers.
According to him, “Most Northerners who are in their 70s and 80s still cannot come to terms with the brutal killing of the Sardauna and Tafawa Balewa.”
The two leaders were killed during Nigeria’s first military coup on January 15, 1966. The coup, led by mostly young army officers of Igbo extraction, resulted in the deaths of several top government and military officials, mostly from the North and West. The killings sparked anger and divisions that later led to a counter-coup, the Nigerian Civil War, and long-lasting ethnic tensions.
Bishop Kukah argued that Nigeria has failed to openly discuss and confront the painful truths of its past, including the events of 1966. He criticised the culture of silence around the country’s history, which he believes has prevented true healing and national unity.
“We have a country that doesn’t like to confront the truth,” he said. “We often say as Africans, forgive and forget. And we bury the hatchet, but the handle is still outside.”
The respected cleric believes the lack of honest dialogue and accountability has hindered Nigeria’s growth and unity. He noted that the dreams and hopes of Nigeria’s founding fathers have now turned into disappointments for many citizens.
“This is why the dreams of our fathers have now become nightmares for us,” Kukah said.
He linked today’s leadership and governance challenges to the country’s failure to properly address its past. “We now ended up with a situation in which the recruitment process, whether it’s for public life or the bureaucracy, all of those things came crashing,” he said.
Kukah is known for his strong views on national issues and his calls for justice, good governance, and reconciliation in Nigeria. His recent comments come at a time when the country is still battling deep divisions along ethnic and religious lines.
