22nd December, 2017 - Sambisa Memorial Day was Declared to Celebrate Fall of Boko Haram in Sambisa.

22nd December, 2017 - Sambisa Memorial Day was Declared to Celebrate Fall of Boko Haram in Sambisa.

For years, Sambisa Forest was more than a stretch of land in northeastern Nigeria. It was a name that carried fear. Deep within its thick cover, Boko Haram built camps, trained fighters, held captives, and planned attacks that devastated towns and villages across Borno State and beyond. From the abduction of schoolgirls to deadly raids on communities, Sambisa became the dark heart of an insurgency that began in 2009 and peaked in brutality in the mid-2010s.

As Nigeria bled, the forest stood like a fortress difficult to penetrate, familiar only to the insurgents who knew its hidden routes. For civilians, it was a place of disappearance. For soldiers, it was the ultimate battlefield.

In the final weeks of 2016, after months of sustained air and ground operations, the Nigerian military pushed deeper than ever before into Sambisa. Then, on December 22, 2016, the army announced a breakthrough: Boko Haram’s last major stronghold, known as “Camp Zero,” had been captured.

The announcement came just days before Christmas. President Muhammadu Buhari addressed the nation, hailing the operation as a decisive blow against the insurgents. Images soon followed soldiers standing where Boko Haram commanders once ruled, flags raised where fear had lived for years.

Three months later, in March 2017, Borno State Governor Kashim Shettima returned to that same forest, not with weapons, but with words. Standing on ground once controlled by insurgents, he announced that December 22 would be observed every year as “Sambisa Memorial Day.”

The date was declared a public holiday in Borno State. The reason was not celebration alone. It was remembrance.

The day would honour:
• Soldiers and civilian vigilantes who died fighting Boko Haram
• Thousands of civilians killed or displaced by the insurgency
• The moment Borno began to reclaim its dignity from terror

Yet, as the story of victory spread, doubts followed.

Some asked uncomfortable questions. If Sambisa had truly fallen, why were attacks still happening? Why were troops still clashing with insurgents in the region? Why did Boko Haram — and later ISWAP — continue to strike?

Others pointed to Abubakar Shekau, Boko Haram’s notorious leader, who remained alive long after the fall was declared. Rumours circulated that fighters had simply melted away into the wider terrain, abandoning fixed camps but not the war itself.

To sceptics, the fall of Sambisa was symbolic rather than absolute a military success, yes, but not the end of insurgency. Some believed the declaration and the holiday were politically timed, meant to project control and restore public confidence rather than mark total victory.

Still, supporters of the decision argued that territorial defeat and total eradication are not the same thing.

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