BOKO Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau said the sect would not be defeated by the security forces. The leader of Boko Haram also defended recent attacks on Christians, saying they were revenge for killings of Muslims. In his first video message, posted on YouTube, Shekau referred to attacks on Muslims in recent years in several parts of northern Nigeria. Boko Haram militants attacked several churches on Christmas Day, killing dozens of worshippers. This has led to some reprisals in the mainly Christian South. Mosques in two states have been attacked. Thousands of people have fled their homes following the recent attacks, leading some people, including Nigeria's president and the leader of the country's main Christian organisation, to make comparisons with the 1967-70 civil war when leaders of the Igbo ethnic group tried to secede. In the 15-minute video, Mr Shekau, wearing a red and white turban, a bulletproof vest and sitting in front of two Kalashnikov rifles, said he was respondingto recent statements from President Goodluck Jonathan and the leader of the country's main Christian organisation, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN). He warned President Jonathan that Nigeria's security forces would not be able to defeat the group. President Jonathan has declared a state of emergency in some northern states but the attacks have continued. On Tuesday night, gunmen opened fire on a bar in Yobe, killing eight people, including several police officers. The president recently said that he suspected some officials, politicians and members of the security forces for being sympathisers of Boko Haram. Defending the latest spate of violence, Mr Shekau referred to the killing of Muslims in places like Jos, Kaduna, Zango Kataf and Tafawa Balewa in recent years. Some of these places have seen bitter communal clashes but they are often based on long-standing disputes over resources such as land, or are whipped up by politicians, rather than being based on religious differences. "We are also at war with Christians because the whole world knows what they did to us," Mr Shekau said in the video, speaking in Hausa. CAN head, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, had said on Saturday that his members would protect themselves against the attacks, which he said suggested "systematic ethnic and religious cleansing.” On Tuesday, he told the BBC World Service that there should be dialogue with Muslim leaders to halt the violence. Mr Shekau said the group could only hold talks with the government in accordance with the teachings of Islam. He said the group's primary targets remained the security forces, who he saidhad summarily executed their former leader, Mohammed Yusuf, after he was arrested in 2009. "Everyone has seen how we were treated. People have seen what has happened between us and armed security agents and their accomplices who give them information about us,” Mr Shekau said. After a lull, in 2010 the group started to stage drive-by shootings on government targets in its base. Last year, it carried out suicide bombings on high-profile targets, such as the headquarters of the UN and the police in the capital, Abuja. The group wants to establish Sharia law in Nigeria. Meanwhile, worried about the incessant killings of innocent citizens in the country by Boko Haram through bomb explosions, the Senate, on Wednesday, asked the Federal Government to go after and deal immediately with their sponsors. The senators said they were prepared to give their lives for peace to reign in the country.
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