Shekau and his Boko Haram lieutenants:

A newspaper report today about last week’s seizure of Mubi, Adamawa state second largest city by a band of Boko Haram fighters has further raised questions about the combat readiness of Nigeria’s military and its capacity to defend Nigeria’s territory from invaders.

According to the Daily Trust, only 64 Boko Haram fighters captured of Mubi town, quoting, a resident who fled the town, now even renamed by Boko Haram to ridicule Nigeria.

The man who spoke with the BBC Hausa on Tuesday, said the insurgents told the residents that only seven fighters attacked the military barracks.

“The boys have been on alert, as they continue to patrol the town,” the resident said.

“They man all the junctions in the town and search all those coming into and going out of the town.

“Some of them went to a cleric and lectured him extensively. They told the cleric that they were able to capture the town so easily because what they stand for was the right path.

“They told him that only 64 of them launched attack on Mubi and captured the town eventually. The boys (Boko Haram) told the cleric that only seven people were left to handle the town’s military barrack,” he said.

The local, who spoke after he left Mubi, explained that there was not a single uniformed security officer in Mubi pat present, “unless if they changed their uniforms to civilian ones.”

He said some jobless youths alleged to be thieves were killed by the sect’s members after discovering stolen cartons of foodstuff in their houses.

“They not only amputated them, but killed them after they found out that parts of Mubi town were set ablaze to enable them break into shops and steal,” he said.

He said the insurgents, mostly youths, have been moving freely in the town and patroling all the streets with guns.

“When they come to you, you just have to say ‘Allahu Akbar’ and they will allow you to pass untouched,” he said.

*Story originally reported by Daily Trust