LAGOS: A Nigerian spokesman for the Islamic militant group Boko Haram told Bikyamasr.com on Saturday that the group plans to continue attacks across the country until President Goodluck Jonathan steps down from his position as the country's leader. “There will be no stopping our fight for what is right and best for Nigeria,” the spokesman said via telephone. “Our attacks are for the betterment of all Nigeria.” It comes as the group has demanded that the president step down from his position as a means of renewing talks with the militant group. “He [the president] must leave or face the consequences. The blood will be on his hands,” the spokesman added. Earlier this month, the head of the group said in an online video that he dismissed recent United States sanctions that have been placed against the group. The video posted on YouTube shows Abubakar Shekau with a Kalashnikov assault rifle behind him. In the video, posted late Saturday, he speaks in the Hausa language of Nigeria's Muslim north and calls the United States “terrorists." He also said the US cannot freeze his assets. In June, the State Department listed him and two others as global terrorists. By designating the men as global terrorists blocks any assets the men may have in the US and bars Americans from doing business with them. In late July, a group of Islamic scholars and leaders in Nigeria called on the militant Boko Haram group to end its violent attacks against Christians and security forces in the country. The Islamic leaders, who were speaking at a Ramadan lecture as part of the National Council of Muslim Youth Organization's holy month festivities, said that the Islamic group was using “un-Islamic" tactics to reach their goals. Boko Haram have carried out numerous attacks against Christians in the country as they push for an Islamic state. A spokesman for the group told Bikyamasr.com recently that “we will not end our attacks until we have an Islamic state." In his comments, the Acting Cultural Consulate of the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Sayid Bagher Seyed Jaradi, said the activities of Boko Haram in Nigeria had “not only pitched the non-Muslims against the Muslims, but questioned the sanctity of the religion." Jaradi said called for a ceasefire from Boko Haram, adding that it was “urgently expected for the sake of humanity, credibility of the Islamic religion and peaceful co-existence among Nigerians." “They [Boko Haram] should realize that the merciless killings of innocent people, including non-Muslims, across Nigeria, is not known and acceptable by any law or religious tenets across the globe. They should be enlightened or reminded that the basic preaching of Islamic religion is peace, which can never be achieved when we are hostile to our brothers and sisters, including the non-Muslims," he added. In recent weeks, Islamic and Christian leaders in Nigeria have banded together in their condemnation of the continued violent campaign from the Islamic group, which has left hundreds of Nigerians dead in attacks over the past few years.
