155 © Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature 2018 J.-M. Iyi, H. Strydom (eds.), Boko Haram and International Law, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74957-0_8 Chapter 8 Calibrating the Legal Obligations in the Ongoing Non-international Armed Confict in Nigeria Elijah Oluwatoyin Okebukola 8.1 Introduction The present Boko Haram confict re-echoes some of the social and legal problems that arose during the Nigerian civil war of 1967–1970 (the Civil War). It would therefore appear that legal scholars, commentators and, above all, persons involved in the confict can be guided by reference to legal documents and guidelines infu- enced by facts and actions from the Civil War. 1 In reality, however, the present confict is different in certain factual particulars. These factual differences make it impossible to apply the legal conclusions from the Civil War to the Boko Haram confict. Given that both sides to the confict have been accused of violating their legal obligations, 2 it becomes imperative to ascertain what the law requires from the persons taking part in the confict. In this regard, this paper does not seek to address all the principles of law relevant in a confict of this nature. Rather, it seeks to iden- tify responsibilities that arise from the peculiar facts of the Boko Haram confict. For this purpose, the paper frst of all considers whether the Boko Haram confict is an international armed confict or a non-international armed confict. This exer- cise is important because of the involvement of other States in the confict and the extraterritorial activities of Boko Haram. Next, the paper considers some of the legal consequences of the facts that the Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF) is involved in the Boko Haram confict, bordering States are participating, the confict is of an asymmetrical nature and it deeply involves non-military law enforcement authori- ties. These are radical factual differences between the Civil War and the Boko Haram confict. The paper concludes that notwithstanding aspects of the law that require additional work and clarifcation, the multiple actors in the Boko Haram 1 Such guidelines will include the National Defence Policy. 2 An accusation the Government has denied but Boko Haram has embraced. E. O. Okebukola (*) Public and International Law, Nasarawa State University, Keff, Nigeria