A legal practitioner and national development advocate, Jide Ologun, has revisited the long-standing claim that insurgency in Nigeria had been technically defeated, arguing that current security realities contradict that assertion.
Speaking during an interview on Arise News on Sunday, April 26, 2026, Ologun pointed to the early pronouncement made by former President Muhammadu Buhari upon assuming office in 2015, when he declared that Boko Haram had been technically defeated.
Ologun said that statement has not aligned with subsequent developments in Nigeria’s security landscape, noting that insurgent groups have continued to evolve, reorganise, and expand their operations over the years.
According to him, despite significant investments in military hardware and counterterrorism strategies, including both kinetic and non-kinetic approaches, the persistence of attacks suggests that the threat was not conclusively neutralised as earlier portrayed.
He argued that the transformation of Boko Haram into multiple factions, alongside the emergence of groups such as ISWAP, underscores the complexity of the insurgency and raises questions about the accuracy and implications of the technical defeat narrative.
Ologun maintained that the continued ability of these groups to mount attacks and challenge state authority reflects deeper structural and strategic gaps in Nigeria’s security framework, calling for a more realistic assessment of the situation.
His remarks add to ongoing debates among analysts and policymakers about the effectiveness of past and present counterinsurgency efforts, as well as the need for a reassessment of national security strategies in the face of evolving threats…See More
Leave a Reply