By mid-October, Boko Haram and its terrorist activities would have declined significantly, according to Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan.
While making the promise on September 18, however, the president was more careful than he had been in the past. At least on two previous occasions in the last two years, he had set a deadline for terrorist activities in the country only for the deadly gang to step up its attacks as the deadline approached.
The new deadline has been observed only in the breach, as hostilities continue in the north-east. The gang’s leader, Abubakar Shekau, is said to have been killed in combat but another “Shekau” emerged Thursday, Oct. 2, in a new video, claiming he was alive.
There is no assurance that terrorist attacks will end in the country even next year.
