“In December 2015, Buhari was confident enough to declare Boko Haram 'technically' defeated. But the truth of that statement has since been repeatedly questioned. Suicide bombings and hit-and-run raids persisted, while troops were unable to stop another mass abduction of more than 100 schoolgirls from the town of Dapchi. More concerning still, according to analysts, is the wave of attacks by the Islamic State West Africa Province faction of Boko Haram against military bases. This month, even Buhari acknowledged Nigerian troops were exhausted and demoralised. 'Boko Haram has shown it has not gone away,' Josh Lipowsky, a senior research analyst at the Counter Extremism Project in New York, told AFP. 'The government has to take further steps in order to fulfil its promises, which it has not yet done despite its proclamations.'"