Benue govt frowns at claims of request for establishment of DDR for Boko Haram terrorist

From Uche Nnorom, Makurdi

Benue State Government has frowned at insinuations and claims that it requested for the establishment of a Disarmament , Demobilization and Reintegration ,DDR center for Boko Haram terrorists in the State.

Director-General, Commission for Peace and Reconciliation Josephine Habba who said this on Monday while speaking with newsmen in her office, noted that such misrepresentation is ‘mischievous’.

She explained that the state made a passionate request to the Chief Of Defence Staff General Olufemi Oluyede for the setting up a DDR center for bandits of Benue origin intimating that over 400 people including women who are not criminals but were abducted by these bandits will be kept in the camp and rehabilitated.

“These persons are not necessarily criminals but were taken in to do dirty jobs for those in the forest because they know that if they come out, they would be recognized so they needed foot soldiers. Even pregnant women were abducted and turned to their cooks. These number of people from the biometric we have done are over 1800 but 400 are willing to be rehabilitated.

She stated that the DDR center is a program by the military, funded and certified by the United Nation, stressing that said the program which is yet to been approved by the Chief of Defence Staff, when established, will attract the International Community attention to the state even as she added that the Operationalization of the facility will bring in more troops into the State.

She said, “my commission has worked out a plan which will be unveiled at a peace summit on Wednesday 25th February, 2026 that captures everything and ensure that these people graduate and given certificate. The program will run for 6 to one year. While they are there, the commitee will engage in Community resilience identify the livelihood that were destroyed and restore them compensate where needed as well as ensure that schools and hospitals are rebuilt so we have a seamless reintegration of these people into their families.

“I and the Bishop of Katsina-Ala Diocese Bishop Isaac Dugu went to the commander of Safe corridor. We also recommended to the Governor to meet with the Chief Of Defence Staff and request for this DDR center and see if he might oblige him. The Governor asked me, the Homeland Security Adviser, Liaison officer in Abuja and the Bishop to meet the CDS. We made passionate appeal for this center for peace to return to the State. The CDS said he will set up a committee to come and assess the facility the Governor has put in place and if it befitting, they will work on the recommendation of the committee.

“The CDS set a committee made up of Brigadier-Generals, Generals, Major-Generals and Colonels and they had their first meeting in my office with the Commissioner of Justice in attendance. An entry point and check list was looked at and the Governor gave permission to look at the facility and we are waiting for the report. We are praying and hoping that they will give us this facility.

“This commission was established in 2022 but operational in 2023.. You all know that Benue was almost a theater of conflicts and attention was needed. We needed to build mechanism to ensure we nip this in the bud. So this commission has taken two years to work and plan to ensure we do things systematically. Governor Alia gave me enough time to plan for the intervention for a conflict that has lasted for over two decades. This can’t be planned in one day or responded in two days. So, we took ample time to plan. In planning we dug deep trying to descalate and know what the issues are. Trying to find out how many conflicts existed in the State because there was confusion about conflicts in Benue State.

“When you talk about conflict, what comes to your mind is the big elephant which is called herders/farmer clash. Nobody know what the issues were. We are always treating the leaf and not the root cause of the conflicts. So, I took up the responsibility to find d out the conflicts in the state, where they are and how it started to enable us dig deep and begin to see how we could treat it from the root. One of the conflicts in Benue is Sankera that is Logo Katsina-Ala and Ukum. The camp will be located in Logo Local Government Area and is expected to cost millions of naira”.