By Rahama, Musa Lawal
Nigeria is a heterogonous society, as a result, ethnic bias leads to religious,
political, cultural and social upheavals. Differing groups resort to the use of
violence and counter violence in order to achieve their inordinate ambitions. In
order to arrest the situation and to elevate the dignity of human beings from the
savage character of violence. King’s concepts of Non-violence can be applied to
effect a social and political change in Nigeria. Violence from the perspective of the
political realists is seen as the best option for political resolutions. In the world
today violence has topped the world political actions taken by the world political
powers to checkmate other small nations or countries in the world. Even some
individuals believe also that through violence the real nature of man will emerge.
Martin Luther King, Jr., and Mahatma Gandhi held the opposite view. Luther
strongly believed in the principle of Non-violent revolution. This he carried out to
its logical conclusion. He believed that Non-violence is an indestructible weapon
in the hands of humanity. Using critical and analytic methods, the work will assess
the value of Martin Luther King Jr.’s philosophy of Non-violence so as to appraise
its end products such as the restoration of human dignity; human freedom, black
equality and social justice, which Luther believed are the foundation of
brotherhood of all men. Attempts were made to explore and explicate the origin of
the philosophy of “Non-violence” as a means of resolving crises