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Jonathan will never resign – Abati

President Goodluck Jonathan on Sunday said that he would neither resign nor convert to Islam as demanded by the Islamic sect, Boko Haram. “The President … Continue reading Jonathan will never resign – Abati


President Goodluck Jonathan on Sunday said that he would neither resign nor convert to Islam as demanded by the Islamic sect, Boko Haram.

“The President cannot be intimidated by any group or individual. The President will never resign. He has the mandate of Nigerians to serve his father land and nobody should imagine that he will succumb to blackmail,” Reuben Abati,the presidential spokesman told journalists in Abuja.

The Boko Haram, in a youtube broadcast on Saturday asked Mr Jonathan to either resign or change to Islam before it could cease fire.

“We do not kill women and children but those who have offended us, arrested our people and kill them,” the group said in the wake of a promise by Jonathan to end its activities before the end of June this year.

Mr Abati said “When Nigerians voted overwhelmingly for President Jonathan in the 2011 general election, they knew they were voting for a Christian…So, it amounts to sheer blackmail for any individual or group to ask the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to convert to Islam.”

For about two years, bombings and gun attacks by Boko Haram have become commonplace in the northern part of the country including  Abuja.

The sect which has made negotiation with the government impossible said it is seeking the conversion of Nigeria to an Islamic state.