Since Mohammadu Buhari became president of Nigeria in May 2015, his government put Boko Haram on the defensive in its north-eastern heartlands. Boko Haram is down, but not out. These all demand fundamentally new approaches, and all are hampered by the deep-seated deficiencies of the Nigerian state and its ruling elites. If Boko Haram captives and defectors are simply killed in combat or treated brutally, others will have no incentive to jump ship. Until this sad state of affairs is improved, even a seriously wounded Boko Haram will be very hard to defeat definitively.

Source: The North Africa Journal April 05, 2017 10:18 UTC