Nigeria oil rebels warn of unrest unless Jonathan re-elected.

Yenagoa (Nigeria) (AFP) - Kennedy Tonjo-West is unhappy at the way Nigeria's main opposition party and northern politicians have been criticising President Goodluck Jonathan's record in the run-up to next month's election.

"We are not happy with the constant attacks on the person of Jonathan in the north and if they don't stop such molestation we will be forced to retaliate," he told AFP.

"We will fight back. If and when we do, Boko Haram will be child's play. We shall prove to them that no-one has a monopoly of violence.

Such threats are not to be taken lightly, with Boko Haram having killed more than 13,000 people since 2009 and the rebels' territorial gains in the north posing an increasing threat to Nigerian sovereignty.

But Tonjo-West is a former Niger Delta militant who commanded some 300 men when lawless gangs wreaked havoc on the maze of creeks, swamps and rivers of the southern oil-producing region in the 2000s.

He is not a lone voice: other former oil rebels, including leaders of the shadowy Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), have also threatened violence if Jonathan doesn't win.Read more