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January 11, 2012 11:53 AM EST
The leader of Boko Haram, Nigeria's deadly Islamic rebel group, said that the recent attacks on Christians were revenge for years of Muslim persecution.
Deferring blame away from his organization, Abubakar Shekau said in a video address that the Christmas Day church bombings that killed 49 Christians and other recent attacks were a direct response to the killings of Muslims in cities such as Jos, Kaduna, Zangon Kataf and Tafawa Balewa.
"We are also at war with Christians because the whole world knows what they did to us," Shekau said in the video.
"They killed our fellows and even ate their flesh in Jos," he added, referencing an incident in the tumultuous Plateau state where Christians killed and ate rivals after religious clashes.
Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa, is split evenly between Christians and Muslim, with the former living primarily in the south and the latter in the north. Boko Haram, whose name translates roughly to “Western education is a sin,” wants to "abolish the secular system and establish an Islamic state" in Nigeria.
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In its quest, Boko Haram has wantonly killed hundreds of people, including civilians, soldiers and politicians, and in recent weeks the group has specifically targeted Christian worshippers.
"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," Shekau, who wore a bullet-proof vest and sat between two AK-47 rifles in the video, said.
Shekau also challenged President Goodluck Jonathan and Ayo Oritsejafor, the leader of the Christian Association of Nigeria, saying that anyone who tried to stop Boko Haram would be killed.
Last week, Oritsejafor encouraged all Christians to take up arms and defend themselves against the Boko Haram menace.
"The consensus is that the Christian community nationwide will be left with no other option than to respond appropriately if there are any further attacks on our members, churches and property," Oritsejafor stated.
"I will not encourage Christians to [exact] revenge, but Christians should protect themselves... anyway you can. Why should anybody come and kill you in your house? Protect your place of worship, protect your property; it is very important."
Jonathan too has tried to use force to quell the bloody tide of Boko Haram. Last year, he formed the Joint Task Force (JTF), a military police contingent that has treated the rebels like invading combatants, at times waging gun battles in city streets as if at war. The JTF has become a controversial symbol of Jonathan's shoot-first strategy and citizens and religious leaders have pleaded with the president to try diplomacy instead.
The Council on Foreign Relation's John Campbell, a former ambassador to Nigeria, suggested that those in the north, which is generally poorer that the oil-rich south, feel disenfranchised by Jonathan's primarily Christian government. Campbell suggests that appointing northerners to high-ranking cabinet positions could begin to alleviate the palpable tensions in Nigeria.
But Jonathan been been distracted by ongoing protests across the country against the removal of a fuel subsidy. Unions finished a 24- hour strike earlier this week and protests, demonstrations and some small-scale destruction continued on Wednesday and do not appear to be stopping. Eleven people have reportedly died during the "Occupy Nigeria" movement, which is becoming another embarrassment to the Jonathan administration.
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