Boko Haram ‘captures’ Michika

Michika, a town in Adamawa state, has been captured by Boko Haram, the BBC is reporting.

Residents of the town who spoke to the medium said the insurgents were gaining more territory in order to achieve their aim of creating an Islamic state in the region.

Many reportedly fled into bushes as gunfire rang out in the town.

Two days ago, the sect took over Gulak, a neighbouring town with Michika, where residents who escaped said dozens had been killed and the killing was ongoing.

Gwoza and Bama are the other towns that the sect was reported to have seized, although the military swiftly denied both cases.

Though under a state of emergency, Adamawa has only recently been re-emerging as a Boko Haram hot spot, as the sect literally domiciled its takeover mission in Borno state.

The security situation in Adamwa over the last few days had so worsened that students of Adamawa State University, Mubi, fearing that the town would soon come under attack, fled the university on Sunday.

Michika, the most populated local government in Adamawa, is the home of two former governors of the state: Saleh Michika and Boni Haruna.

It is also the home of erstwhile military governor of Lagos and Borno states, Mohammed Buba Marwa.