Kukah urges Africa to first win World Cup before advocating for African Pope

Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Matthew Kukah, has stated that for a Pope of African dissent to emerge, the continent has to first prove its worth by first winning the World Cup football tournament.

According to Kukah, electing a pope is not like that; it’s not an ‘Emilokan’ affair where people claim it is their turn, due to politics of zoning as obtains in Nigeria and some other African countries.

The Catholic bishop spoke during an interview session on Channels Television’s Political Paradigm.

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Kukah also spoke about his experience in Rome and the possible impact of the new pope on Africa and the world in general.

On whether it’s palatable to hold on to the argument that there should have been an African pope, Kukah said:

“Well, let’s win the World Cup first. I think we still have a long way to go. I did write an article in the course of all of this and I remember remarking on something that happened when Pope John Paul II died and speculators thought that Cardinal Arinze came very close. But as you know, electing a pope is not like that; it’s not an ‘Emilokan’ scenario in which you say, ‘These people have had their turn, now it’s our turn.’ No, it doesn’t work like that.”

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