The President of the Foundation for Peace and Non-Violence in Nigeria, Onengiya Erekosima, has issued a strongly worded statement urging the Federal Government to abandon plans for widespread gun licensing and instead adopt a nonviolent, strategic approach to tackling insecurity.
In the statement titled “Nigeria Does NOT Need Weapons Nigeria Needs Wisdom,” Erekosima said the country’s security challenges are solvable but persist due to leadership’s refusal to listen to proven peace strategies.
Erekosima, who played a prominent role in ending militancy in the Niger Delta, reminded the government of the nonviolent tactics that helped de-escalate hostilities in the region. He described his engagement in the creeks as a decisive intervention that uprooted militancy “from the root,” adding that renewed armed defence is unnecessary and dangerous.
According to him, Nigeria’s crisis is not a lack of firepower but a lack of political will, empathy and strategic thinking. “People are dying not because we cannot solve insecurity, but because those in power have chosen not to solve it,” he said.
He cautioned that licensing citizens to carry firearms would trigger widespread, uncontrollable violence, describing it as “a time bomb” that could plunge the nation into deeper chaos. Nonviolence, he argued, remains the most effective and sustainable method for restoring peace.
Erekosima called on the government to reconsider its stance and embrace dialogue, wisdom and conscience-driven leadership. “Wisdom is stronger than any gun,” he said. “Nigeria can still be saved, but only through strategy, not bullets.”
The statement ended with an urgent appeal for a return to peace-focused governance and national conscience.
