A century of faith in the North-West

The full story

The ecclesiastical jurisdiction known as the Catholic Diocese of Sokoto covers three states: Sokoto, Zamfara and Kebbi — all located in the north-west and Muslim-majority region of Nigeria. The headquarters of the diocese is at the seat of the Caliphate.

The history of the diocese begins with the visit of the Belgian Franciscan, Brother Peter Farde, who earned his freedom from captivity in Agadez. He travelled south from Agadez through present-day Sabon-Birni, Shinkafi, Gusau and Kankara to Kano, and is believed to have baptised as many as 200 people. In 1870 two Franciscan priests from Agadez travelled down to Katsina, though little lasting pastoral work was possible. The story continues with Father Berengario Cermenatti, SMA, who visited Sokoto in November 1921, cycling the 400 kilometres from Zaria accompanied by his cook, Mallam Audu — the journey that led to the establishment of the Catholic Church in Sokoto town.

With the creation of the Prefecture of Northern Nigeria in 1929 under Monsignor Francis O'Rourke, SMA, priests such as Father Malachy Gately and Father John MacCarthy, SMA, began to explore the distant Sokoto Province to reach Catholics, most of them from Southern Kaduna. After the prefecture was divided in 1934, Fathers MacCarthy and Patrick Lee were sent to Argungu to choose a site for a new mission, and building of the first rural mission station for work among the indigenes of the province began in September 1935.

The need for a prefecture in Sokoto was raised in 1937 by the Apostolic Delegate, Archbishop Antonio Riberi. The Dominican Order, which had established itself at St. Dominic's, Yaba, in 1951, was asked by the Apostolic Delegate, Archbishop David Matthew, to undertake evangelisation in the north-west. On 19 June 1953 the civil provinces of Sokoto and Katsina — 45,943 square miles — were separated from the Kaduna Prefecture and entrusted to the Dominican Friars from Chicago, leading to six missions at Sokoto, Gusau and Yelwa, and at Katsina, Funtua and Malumfashi.

Monsignor Edward Thaddeus Lawton, O.P., was appointed Prefect Apostolic in 1954 and took charge on 13 November. Gusau was then the only residence for missionaries in the whole prefecture, whose 1,200 Catholics were scattered among five million inhabitants. Gusau became a parish in 1955; in 1956 Father Louis Nadeau, O.P., became the first resident priest in Sokoto and supervised the construction of the present Holy Family Catholic Cathedral. In 1961 Monsignor Lawton moved his headquarters to Sokoto, and on 16 June 1964 the prefecture was raised to a diocese with him as its first bishop. He died on 19 December 1966 on the road to Kaduna.

Bishop Michael James Dempsey, O.P., was consecrated on 15 August 1967. The civil war took a heavy toll, but after 1970 Christians from across the country came to the diocese and, under Bishop Dempsey, it grew far beyond its pre-war size. He opened the catechetical training school at Malumfashi — now St. Joseph Mukasa Catechetical Training Centre — to train catechists for all of Northern Nigeria, and worked for good relations with Muslims and other Christians.

Bishop Kevin Joseph Aje, ordained bishop by Pope St. John Paul II in Rome on 6 January 1983 and installed on 28 April 1985, became the first African and Nigerian Bishop of Sokoto. Under him parishes were established at Talata-Mafara, Birnin-Kebbi, Illela, Layin Minista, Jega, Kamba, Old Airport (Sokoto), Daura, Shagari Low-Cost (Katsina) and Jibiya.

On 8 September 2011 Bishop Aje handed over to Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah, the second African and Nigerian Bishop of Sokoto, who has since established St. Kevin's, Sokoto, and St. Edward's, Gusau, a pastoral area at Gidan Mai Kambu, re-opened St. Mary's, Argungu — closed in 1948 — as a parish, and opened St. Peter's, Kaura Namoda.