Maybe This Time

The Nigerian government is claiming it has killed the terrorist leader of Boko Haram.  The problem is that it has made that pronouncement several times before and each time Abubakar Shekau has reappeared in good health.  To say the Nigerian government has no credibility in the issue is an understatement.  In order for it to be believed, it needs to produce a body and other evidence that the bandit has indeed been slain this time.  It doesn’t look like it can given the nature of the attack — an air strike in the jungle where the terrorists can easily disappear.  Why does the government risk becoming a laughingstock with its multiple communications that it has killed the leader?  It might be a twisted sense of PR — providing hope to families whose lives have been destroyed by the group and whose girls have been kidnapped.  A false sense of security, however, doesn’t help anyone and none can be blamed for being cynical about Nigeria’s leaders.