[b]The week beginning 13th October 2014 saw the Nigerian political authorities announce a ceasefire with Jama'atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda'Awati Wal-Jihad (People Committed to the Prophet's Teachings for Propagation and Jihad), otherwise known as Boko Haram. That announcement came as a surprise to many, especially because the Nigerian military was finally and almost in total dominance of the zones of engagement with Boko Haram and had put the insurgents on the run.
Those in favour of the surprise cessation cited the need to free the over 200 girls abducted earlier this year by the violent Islamic sect (the said release being the most critical part of the ceasefire deal). Furthermore, they contended that most of the young men being used as fighters by the sect were hapless Nigerian citizens who had been abducted against their will and who needed to be given a reprieve, which would come if hostilities ended. They also said that the economic ruin that the conflict has visited on northeastern Nigeria would take several years to rebuild and the longer the conflict continued, the more difficult it would be to do that hence the need to start exploring a political solution.

For those against the deal, it was unthinkable that an emerging victorious power would suddenly trade away its hard won victories on the battlefield, especially when it had not sufficiently dealt the type of blow needed to force Boko Haram acknowledge that it cannot win a military campaign and thus force it to renounce violence and opt for negotiations. To this group, it was unacceptable to consign the sacrifice of the troops and most recently, the sad and alleged brutal killing of a very courageous Nigerian Air Force fighter pilot by the insurgents into the dustbin.
Furthermore, those in this group aver that the rumoured demand for the release of certain Boko Haram commanders as part of the ceasefire deal would be counter-productive on the long run, as these hardened fighters are likely to return to the battlefield. Not a few, even outside of this group, believe that such commanders should be candidates of a war crimes trial. Fears were heightened that the recent deal between the Cameroonian authorities, in which thousands of dollars were allegedly paid as ransom to Boko Haram to secure the release of the wife of that country's Prime Minister (earlier kidnapped this year, and previously rumoured to have been freed by Cameroonian special forces—a mere propaganda it now seemed) and 10 Chinese nationals, had gifted the insurgents with badly needed cash with which to re-arm and recoup losses in the hands of Nigerian forces.
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