The Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) has faulted the appointment of Bishop Sarah Mullally as the new Archbishop of Canterbury.

It stated that the news of her emergence was a “devastating” development that “ignores the current situation and challenges being faced by the Anglican Communion”.

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This was contained in a statement by the Archbishop, Metropolitan and Primate of the Church of Nigeria, Most Rev’d Henry Ndukuba, and made available to Channels Television.

The news of the appointment of Bishop Sarah Mullally on Friday, 3rd October, 2025, as the next Archbishop of Canterbury is devastating, one that ignores the current situation and challenges being faced by the Anglican Communion.

“It is a double jeopardy; first, in its insensitivity to the conviction of the majority of Anglicans who are unable to embrace female headship in the episcopate, and second, more disturbing that Bishop Sarah Mullally is a strong supporter of same-sex marriage as evidenced in her speech in 2023, after a vote to approve the blessings of homosexuals when she described the result as a “moment of hope for the Church.

”It remains to be seen how the same person hopes to mend the already torn fabric of the Anglican Communion by the contentious same-sex marriage, which has caused an enormous crisis across the entire Anglican Communion for over two decades,” the statement partly read.

It also said that the election of Mullally was a further “confirmation that the global Anglican world could no longer accept the leadership of the Church of England and that of the Archbishop of Canterbury”.

“On our part, as a member of the GAFCON family, the Church of Nigeria affirms the GAFCON position unreservedly, and reaffirms our earlier stance to uphold the authority of the Scriptures, our historic creeds, evangelism, and holy Christian living, irrespective of the ongoing revisionist agenda, believing our Lord Jesus Christ has built His church and “the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16 :18).

“We encourage all faithful brothers and sisters in the Church of England who have consistently rejected the aberration called same-sex marriage and other ungodly teachings, by contending for the faith that was once delivered to the saints (Jude 1:3),” the statement added.

Mullally was las Friday named the new Archbishop of Canterbury, becoming the first woman to lead the Church of England which can trace its origins to the Roman empire and the global Anglican community.

Her nomination by a committee tasked with finding a successor to Justin Welby, who stepped down earlier this year over an abuse scandal, was approved by King Charles III, the UK government said.

The Church of England is the mother church of global Anglicanism.

Mullally, 63, becomes the church’s 106th Archbishop of Canterbury, the first having been appointed in the late sixth century.