Seventeenth International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities

Abstract

Nigeria’s Muhammadu Buhari was sworn in on Friday 29th May, 2015 as the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria. He pledged to tackle Boko Haram “head on,” asserting the fight against the terrorists wouldn’t be won until hundreds of schoolgirls and others abducted in 2014 are returned. The administration won support from the United States, which increased military aid through the revived Multinational Joint Task force (MJTF). President Buhari met with his military chiefs and the leaders of neighbouring Niger, Benin, Cameroon, and Chad in a bid to establish stronger frame work of cohesion to battle Boko Haram and other border criminals. He relocated the military command and control centre from the capital Abuja, 800km to Maiduguri, the epicentre of the Boko Haram menace. He replaced the service chiefs as they were unfit to meet his KPI, he successfully brought substantial number of kidnapped Chibok girls and returned all Dapchi girls. Buhari’s regime also recaptured all the local government areas hitherto under the Boko Haram’s suzerainty though the months between September and January of 2018 and 2019 respectively were tough for the Armed Forces of Nigeria in the theatres of war. This paper identifies the progress made by the Buhari led government in the fight against Boko Haram in North Eastern Nigeria. The paper argues that although the Buhari presidency has gained significant victories in the war against Boko Haram compared to the previous administration, the war is far from been won.