Terrorists tell Nigerian president to 'convert or resign'

The militant Islamist group Boko Haram is demanding that Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, a Christian to convert to Islam or resign. In an online video clip, Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau demanded that President Jonathan to "repent and forsake Christianity." Speaking in Hausa, Shekau said the president should convert or resign if he wanted Boko Haram to end its violent campaign.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Presidential spokesman Reuben Abati dismissed the demand as attempted "blackmail . When Nigerians voted overwhelmingly for President Jonathan in the 2011 general election, they knew they were voting for a Christian," Abati told reporters.

"He has the mandate of Nigerians to serve his fatherland. Nobody should imagine that he will succumb to blackmail."

The demand is a common tenet of Islam. According to a hadith, the writings and sayings of the prophet, Sahih al-Bukhari has quoted Mohammed as saying, "I have been ordered (by Allah) to fight against the people until they testify that none has the right to be worshipped but Allah and that Muhammad is Allah's Apostle, and offer the prayers perfectly and give the obligatory charity, so if they perform a that, then they save their lives an property from me except for Islamic laws and then their reckoning (accounts) will be done by Allah." (...)