BENUE SEEKS FG’S APPROVAL TO REHABILATATE ‘400 REPENTANT BANDITS’
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BY JENN NOMAMIUKOR
The government of Benue state is asking the federal government for permission to create a disarmament, demobilisation, and reintegration (DDR) centre. This centre will help rehabilitate people who have turned against bandits. Josephine Habba, the director–general of the commission for peace and reconciliation, explained this during a meeting with journalists in Makurdi, the capital of Benue state. She said the centre is meant for people who, due to certain circumstances, ended up fighting for bandits.
She said the state has formally requested Olufemi Oluyede, chief of defence staff, to approve the establishment of the DDR centre specifically for bandits of Benue origin.
Habba said that the DDR center is a military program that is approved and supported by the United Nations. She added that setting up the center would bring international attention to the state.
She also mentioned that running the center would lead to more soldiers being sent to Benue.
“The media quoted Habba as saying that these people are not always criminals. They were taken in to do bad tasks for those in the forest. They know that if the local bandits come out, they will be recognized. So they needed people to fight for them,”
“Even pregnant women were abducted and turned into their cooks. The number of people from the biometrics we have done is over 1,800, but 400 are willing to be rehabilitated.”
Habba said the commission has developed a plan to be unveiled at a peace summit on Wednesday, February 25, 2026, which “captures everything and ensures that these people graduate and are given certificates”.
“The programme will run for six months to one year. While they are there, the committee will engage in community resilience, identify livelihoods that were destroyed, restore them, compensate where needed, and ensure schools and hospitals are rebuilt for a seamless reintegration of these people into their families,” she said.
Habba said the proposed centre is expected to be located in Logo LGA, adding that the project would cost “millions of naira”.
Benue state has witnessed several incidents of farmer-herder clashes and kidnapping-for-ransom crisis, resulting in many deaths and displacement of residents.
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