The Benue State Government has dismissed as “mischievous misrepresentations” issues surrounding the planned rehabilitation facility in the state, clarifying that the centre is designed to restore victims of forced recruitment into criminal groups rather than rehabilitate hardened terrorists.

The Director-General of the Benue State Peace and Reconciliation Commission, Josephine Habba, who stated this on Monday, was reacting to the growing public debate over the planned establishment of a Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDR) Centre in the state, saying the initiative must be understood within the broader context of Benue’s prolonged insecurity.

According to her, Benue became almost a theatre of conflict, and there was a clear need to ensure that the conflicts are nipped in the bud. Habba noted that while the herder and farmer crisis often dominates public discourse, it does not fully explain the complexity of Benue’s security challenges.

“There is confusion around conflict in Benue State. When you mention conflict, the big elephant people think about is the herder and farmer conflict. But that does not address the root causes of insecurity in the state.”

The DG pointed specifically to the Sankera axis, comprising Katsina-Ala, Ukum, and Logo Local Government Areas, an area long plagued by armed banditry, among other forms of violence.

She said, “We all know the story of Sankera. The conflicts in that area are not a complete representation of farmers’ and herders’ conflicts. These are our children, young people drawn or forced into banditry.”

She recalled that in early 2024, Governor Hyacinth Alia visited Katsina-Ala following disturbing reports presented during a meeting with the Catholic Diocese of Katsina-Ala, and “at that meeting, it was revealed that many of our children were abducted from markets, homes, and even while riding their motorcycles. They were taken into the creeks to work for criminal gangs.”

She said these abductees “were often used as foot soldiers or compelled to carry out dangerous errands for those hiding deep within forest enclaves. They were made to do the dirty jobs for those who could not risk coming out. Sometimes women, including pregnant women, were also taken to serve as cooks or errand runners.”

Following assessments conducted by the commission and other stakeholders, Habba disclosed that over 1,800 individuals were initially profiled as persons affected by forced involvement in bandit networks.

“These were the categories of persons presented to the Governor. They are not the total criminals in the state, but people whose circumstances required careful evaluation.”

Based on this, Governor Alia, she said, adopted what she described as a “carrot approach”, saying if these individuals are truly repentant and were not criminals before being taken into the bush, he would consider amnesty. A committee was subsequently set up to carry out discreet background checks of the victims and “shadow assessments.

“You cannot simply conduct open assessments in such situations, and we had to verify their histories carefully. From the exercise, the commission identified more than 1,170 individuals who reportedly had no prior criminal records before being recruited. Our goal is to break the chain of recruitment into criminality. If those hiding in the bush have no foot soldiers, their operations will collapse, and our lives will be better.”

She revealed that as a result of ongoing peace engagements, over 400 individuals are already expressing willingness to abandon their way of life, “They said they wanted to return to their communities for farming. But we insisted they could not just go back like that because community members might still see them as criminals, and their mindset needed correction. We must first deconstruct what they have been through and then reconstruct them into productive members of our society.”

She explained that the DDR is a recognised global framework operated by the military, funded and certified by the United Nations, adding that other states with lesser security challenges already host such centres.

She said the proposed centre will be located in Anyiin, Logo LGA, stressing that the facility is not intended for Boko Haram fighters or external militants, “but our children who were taken into the creeks. The misrepresentation is unfair.”

She added that the operationalisation of the centre is expected to attract international collaboration, enhance security presence, and provide participants with start-up kits upon completion. At that stage, they would have been demobilised and restored as human beings again.

She announced that the commission’s comprehensive peace framework would be formally unveiled at a peace summit scheduled for February 25, 2026.

According to her, the plan integrates rehabilitation with community resilience programmes, mental health support, restoration of livelihoods, and rebuilding of essential services such as schools and hospitals.

Habba said, “We will ensure that these people graduate and are given certificates. The programme will run for 6 months to one year. While they are there, the committee will engage in community resilience, identify the livelihoods that were destroyed and restore them, compensate where needed, and ensure that schools and hospitals are rebuilt.

“We want seamless reintegration, not just for those leaving the bush, but for communities that have suffered trauma and destruction.” (The Sun)