PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan on Sunday said he would
neither resign nor convert to Islam as demanded by the violent Islamic sect,
Boko Haram, as a condition to ceasefire.
Jonathan, who spoke through his spokesperson, Reuben
Abati described the call as “rude and a mere blackmail.”
“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,” Abati told journalists in Abuja.
The sect, in a broadcast on Saturday asked Jonathan to
either resign or change to Islam before it could lay down its arms against the
country.
“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.
Abati said it was laughable for any group in the
country to hand down such a condition to a President who was elected by both
Muslims and Christians.
He said, “When Nigerians voted overwhelmingly for
President Jonathan in the 2011 general election, they knew they were voting for
a Christian.
“He continues to enjoy the goodwill and support of the
good people of Nigeria. As President, Dr. Jonathan is the leader of both
Muslims and Christians; in fact; he is the leader of persons of all faiths.
“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.”