Some elder statesmen, Chief Chukwuemeka Ezeife and Archbishop Emmanuel Chukwuma on Monday, called for legalisation of gun in the country.
The elder statesmen, who spoke with our correspondent in separate interview, said the call was necessitated by the security situation in the country, adding that if people were allowed to carry adequate weapons to defend themselves, the rate of killings going on around the country would reduce.
The former Governor of Anambra State, Ezeife, described the mindless killings of locals by bandits, terrorists under different goise while the security agencies look helpless or lock of knowledge of how to contain it as unacceptable.
“I have been advocating that people should defend themselves with gun. We need a level playing field in Nigeria. If we cannot control some people carrying gun, then let us allow everybody to defend themselves with his gun. All we need to do is to define the terms of access to gun and when it is reasonable for a person to use it.
“It is not a matter of some people carrying sophisticated guns while some carrying catapult. It cannot work. If all is equal, then what is good for the goose is also good for the gander. So when we have peace we can ban all the gun, but as it is now everybody should be allowed to bear arms for self -defence.”
He added, “If you are defending yourself and people know that you have the gun they will be afraid of their own life and will not come to attack you. If people are allowed to carry appropriate weapon to defend themselves other people will know that others have access to gun and therefore they cannot attack them easily. But when they know that you have nothing and they have something they will go on and attack you. That’s what is going on in this country today.”
Chukwuma, the Archbishop of Enugu Provence, Anglican Communion and Bishop of Enugu diocese, blamed the insecurity on inept leadership of the country across all levels of governance.
The cleric said, “the situation in Nigeria has reached to a level where everybody should defend himself. You cannot just keep watching and somebody will come and kill you. Everyday people are being killed, villages overrun while security agencies will not go after them. So whatever you can defend yourself with you should be allowed to defend yourself.
“The people that are sponsoring these Fulani herdsmen should be careful,” Chukwuma warned.
