Nigeria's military denies any ceasefire deal with Boko Haram or ISWAP: 'There is nothing like a ceasefire'
Nigeria's Defence Headquarters on Thursday 5 November 2026 dismissed reports that the federal government had entered a ceasefire agreement with Boko Haram or the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP). Speaking at a joint security briefing in Abuja, the Director of Defence Information, Major-General Samaila Uba, said: 'On the issue of whether there is a ceasefire with Boko Haram, I want to make it clear that there is nothing like a ceasefire,' adding that recent operations showed the military was 'not relenting' and would keep sustaining pressure on armed groups. The denial answers a September report by The New Humanitarian, based on three sources with contacts among senior Boko Haram members, describing a secret truce since June with the faction led by Bakura Doro. The military's denial is verified as its stated position; whether any truce existed remains disputed, and this page states neither as settled fact.
Checking in progress
This story is still being checked. Claims below are published as claims — never dressed as facts — and each one moves only when the evidence earns it.
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2 of 3 claims checked so far · step 3 of 4: Checking claims
Key points
- DHQ spokesman Major-General Samaila Uba, Abuja, Thursday: 'There is nothing like a ceasefire' with Boko Haram or ISWAP; operations will continue.
- The denial answers The New Humanitarian's September report of a secret truce since June with Bakura Doro's faction — that report's claims are Disputed, not settled either way.
- The military's own September–October figures (588 operations, 717 people rescued) are its account, labelled Not yet verified.
- Reuters context: Boko Haram and ISWAP attacks on military positions in the North-East have surged in recent weeks.
What happened
Boko Haram's insurgency in north-eastern Nigeria is in its 17th year; ISWAP split from it and both groups still attack military positions and communities. A genuine ceasefire with either would be a major change of policy for Abuja, which is why a report of a secret one — and now an on-record denial of it — both matter: communities in the North-East plan their lives around whether the guns are meant to be silent.
Claim by claim
Why this label: Verified as the military's own stated position, from its spokesman on the record at an official briefing: Reuters' Abuja report (read in full in this run) and Nigerian reports of the same briefing (Premium Times; The Sun, read in this run) agree on the denial and the quotation. Under the principal's-own-words rule, that the DHQ denies a ceasefire is verified by its spokesman's words — it does not by itself settle whether any truce existed, which is the disputed claim below.
On the ladder: a claim earns Verified from primary evidence, or from two independent sources that do not copy each other.
Why this label: Labelled Disputed, which is exactly its state: one investigative report resting on anonymous sources with faction contacts, now denied on the record by the Defence Headquarters, with the faction also reported to have denied it. Neither the truce nor its alleged terms (the captive release link, the alleged payment) is stated as fact anywhere on this page; the payment allegation in particular rests on the original reporting alone and the government denies it.
On the ladder: credible sources conflict, so we show both workings. One side's own statement is that side's position — never proof.
Why this label: The figures are the Defence Headquarters' own account, as reported by Voice of Nigeria's coverage of the briefing — carried as the military's numbers, not as independently verified totals; no independent audit of them appears in the reporting read. The surge-in-attacks context and the Sahel talks are from Reuters' report (read in full in this run).
On the ladder: the evidence so far sits low — early, single or social sources. We publish the claim as a claim, never as fact.
What we know / what we don't know yet
What we know
- That the Defence Headquarters denies any ceasefire, in its spokesman's own on-record words at Thursday's Abuja briefing (Reuters, Premium Times and The Sun in agreement).
- What The New Humanitarian reported in September and on what sourcing — three sources with contacts among senior Boko Haram members.
What we don't know yet
- Whether any truce, understanding or local pause in fact existed since June — the investigative report and the official denial point opposite ways, and no document or party statement settling it has been published in the reporting read.
- Whether the military's September–October operational figures are accurate in full — they are the DHQ's account, not independently audited in the reporting read.
- Any direct statement from Bakura Doro's faction on Thursday's denial — the faction was reported in September to have denied a ceasefire; it has not answered this briefing in the reporting read.
Why it matters
If a secret truce existed, its public denial ends it in practice — commanders and communities alike now act on the stated position that operations continue. If it never existed, the denial closes a report that had suggested Abuja was quietly negotiating with the very groups it is fighting. Either way, the North-East's 17-year war is, on the record of both the briefing and the reporting, still being fought — and the gap between the two accounts is itself the fact readers most need labelled honestly.
Background
The date from which The New Humanitarian's sources say a secret truce with Bakura Doro's Boko Haram faction had been in effect.
The New Humanitarian publishes its truce report; the faction is also reported to have denied a ceasefire, and the government denies an alleged payment.
The Defence Headquarters denies any ceasefire on the record at a joint security briefing in Abuja.
Update history
No silent edits. Every change is written here, with its time.
- Latest
Published as a brief from queue #1732 (Nigerian military denies any ceasefire deal with Boko Haram or ISWAP). Basis: Reuters read in full in this run; Premium Times and The Sun reports of the same Abuja briefing in agreement (Premium Times' own page was blocked for direct text fetch in this run — the gap is recorded in the ladder note). JUDGE AUDIT: (1) headline, slug, SEO title and summary state the same outcome — a DENIAL of a ceasefire deal; the denial is never flipped into a finding that no truce existed. (2) The denial is Verified as the spokesman's own words; the reported truce is Disputed; the DHQ's operational figures are Not yet verified as its own account. (5) Both sides are present — the investigative report's claims and sourcing are stated in full beside the denial, and the faction's absence from Thursday's reporting is in the don't-know list. (6) Photo is Nigerian soldiers on exercise, labelled a file photo; no official video was oEmbed-verified, so none is attached. Translations: headline, summary and take labels in all 13 non-English languages at publish; this story carries no FR/AR full text, so no full-text rebuild arose.