Beyond the Gun: Can Apology and Dialogue Heal Africa’s Victims of Extremism?
At Bingham University, scholars, soldiers and diplomats debate if restorative justice can succeed where military force stops.
Our Staff Reporter
The Senate Chamber at Bingham University was full on Thursday, 6th August 2026. On one side sat senior officers from the National Defence College.
On the other, professors from California State University, Sacramento. In between were diplomats, Africa Peace Fellows, and civil society leaders from across the continent.
They had gathered for one reason: to ask a question Nigeria and much of Africa have been avoiding. What happens after the guns go quiet?
The seminar, ‘Restorative Justice and the Management of Victims of Violent Extremism in Africa’, jointly hosted by Bingham University’s Ambassador Bulus Lolo Centre and the National Defence College’s Centre for Strategic Research and Studies, put victims, not battle plans, at the centre of the conversation.
The opening address set the tone. “Violent extremism has continued to cause widespread loss of lives, displacement, psychological trauma, and the weakening of social cohesion across the continent,” said Bingham University Vice-Chancellor, Professor Haruna Kuje Ayuba.
His point was blunt; bullets can clear territory, but they cannot rebuild trust.
“Military action, although necessary in confronting violent groups, could not by itself address the social and emotional consequences of conflict,” Prof. Ayuba said.
He called for a justice approach that helps victims “recover, rebuild trust, and restore damaged relationships.”
It was a message echoed by the Federal Government representative. Ambassador Bukar Kalambe, speaking for the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Sola Enikolaiye, told the room, “Experiences across Africa have shown that military victories alone did not necessarily heal communities or restore the lives of victims.”
For him, sustainable peace requires two things: stopping more violence, and deliberately repairing “the physical, emotional, social, and economic damage” already done.
The most unusual session of the day came from California State University, Sacramento.
In a paper titled ‘The Need to Place Victims at the Centre of Justice’, California State University scholars Dr. Alexa Sardina, Krishna Guadalupe and Dr. Ernest Uwazie argued for something rarely discussed in counter-terrorism circles: apology.
They said a sincere apology, when managed within a restorative justice process, could be a powerful tool for healing victims of violent extremism. Not as a substitute for prosecution, but as part of it.
Joined by Prof. Istifanus Zabadi of Bingham, the panel explained how restorative justice works. Instead of a courtroom focused on guilt and punishment, it brings victims, offenders, and the community together.
The goal is to examine what happened, identify consequences, accept responsibility, and agree on how to make it right.
Facilitated by Prof. Desmond Okocha, Dean of Communication and Media Studies, the discussants stressed the rules. Dialogues must be voluntary, confidential, and run by trained professionals. They only happen when both sides are prepared, and safeguards exist. The tools are simple but difficult: personal narratives, emotional expression, active listening, shared understanding, and agreed redress.
The room did not pretend this would be easy. The experts acknowledged three major challenges. First and foremost, the confusion about what restorative justice is actually meant to achieve. Secondly, the fear that sitting across from an offender could cause more harm. Thirdly, the hardest of all: getting an apology that victims believe is sincere.
In Nigeria’s context, where Boko Haram, ISWAP, bandits and other extremist groups have displaced millions and shattered communities in the North and Middle Belt, those questions are not academic. Can a community in Benue sit with a repentant fighter? Can a survivor of a church attack accept an apology? Who facilitates it? Who guarantees safety? Those were the questions Prof. Ayuba urged participants to grapple with.
He called for justice models that are “context-specific, culturally sensitive, and supported by relevant institutions.”
According to Dr. John Olushola Magbadelo, Director of the Ambassador Bulus Lolo Centre, this was not a stand-alone event. It followed an earlier conference and was born from collaboration between NDC, CSU Sacramento, AFRI Peace Sustainable Development Foundation and Bingham University.
He said the focus on “apology as an often-overlooked instrument of healing” was deliberate.
In African societies where community and relationships matter, he argued, legal punishment alone leaves wounds open.
Dignitaries in attendance reflected that mix of security and diplomacy: members of the Diplomatic Corps, Bingham Senate, Dr. Ibrahim Dasam of NDC, delegates from the USA and other African countries, and the media.
By the end of the day, no one claimed restorative justice was a magic fix for violent extremism. What the seminar did was put it on the table as a complement to security operations, not a replacement. As Ambassador Kalambe put it: we need to stop the next attack. But we also need to repair the last one.
In a continent tired of cycles of violence, that may be the harder war. One that is fought not with weapons, but with dialogue, accountability, and sometimes, with an apology.
The one-day seminar was hosted by the Ambassador Bulus Lolo Centre for Diplomacy, Conflict, Peace and Plural Studies, Bingham University, and the Centre for Strategic Research and Studies, National Defence College.
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