Sect says to "devour" Nigeria president

Nigerian Islamist sect Boko Haram intends to bring down the government and "devour" President Goodluck Jonathan within three months, its purported leader said in his second al Qaeda-style video posted on the Internet on Thursday.   

The 14-minute video of Abubakar Shekau seen on YouTube belittled Jonathan for saying two weeks ago that by the middle of this year the security situation would be under control.   

"You, Jonathan, cannot stop us, instead we will devour you in the three months like you are boasting," Shekau said in the video entitled "message to Goodluck Jonathan", flanked by four masked men holding rifles.   

"We are proud soldiers of Allah, we will never give up as we fight the infidels. We will emerge as winners ... we will finish you and end your government," Shekau said in the Hausa-language spoken in northern Nigeria.   

Boko Haram, which wants sharia (Islamic law) applied across Africa's biggest oil producer, has killed hundreds in bomb and gun attacks in northern Nigeria and around the capital Abuja this year.   

Nigeria's population of more than 160 million is split roughly equally between a mostly Muslim north and a largely Christian south.

Reuters