JONATHAN VOWS TO TRIUMPH OVER CRITICS & GOLIATHS OF HIS ADMINISTRATION

President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan has vowed to triumph over supposed enemies of his administration especially politicians in the oppositions who see nothing good in his performance since assumption of office.

He was at speaking at a special Sunday church service to commemorate Nigeria’s 51st Independence Anniversary at the National Ecumenical Centre, Abuja.

The President justified his administration’s approach to the many social, political and economic challenges facing the country and told his critics and some politicians he described as Goliaths, who he accused of doing everything possible to make his presidency fail, that they would be defeated by God that installed him President.

Jonathan said though he possessed not the traits of a ruthless dictator like King Nebuchadnezzar, a Lion, a Tiger or an Army General commanding troops as some Nigerians had wished, he knew that God that installed him President, through prayers would use him to change Nigeria better than he met her.

He told the congregation,:“I thank you for your prayers. It is because of it we are even seeing what we are seeing today. You have been praying for us and my request is for you to continue to pray for the government and together we will conquer the Goliath of our time.

“You have been praying for us, but others will not even want us to move an inch, especially those of us who are politicians. But, one prayer I will continue to request because if you listen to Nigerians or read their statements, some Nigerians still want the President of this country to be a lion or a tiger, somebody that has that kind of strength, force and agility to make things happen the way they think.

“Some others will want the President to operate like an Army General, like my Chief of Army Staff commanding his troops. Incidentally, I am not a lion and I am also not a General. Somebody will want the President to operate like the kings of Syria, Babylon, Egypt and Pharaoh, all powerful people that you read about in the Bible. They want the President to operate that way, the characters of the Goliath. Unfortunately, I am not one of those.”

“But God knows why I am here, even though I don’t have any of those attributes, or these characters I have used as an example. But through your prayers, God placed me here. The only thing I ask you to do for me, and that is the prayer I pray every time is for God to use me to change this country”.

“I don’t need to be a lion. I don’t need to be Nebuchadnezzar. I don’t need to operate like the Pharaoh of Egypt but I can change this country without those traits.

“You know these days for you to be an intellectual and for people to listen to you, you have to abuse government. Somebody was asking, is Nigeria on autopilot? Meaning a plane without a pilot and I say Nigeria is being piloted by God himself. It is not going to be easy, but with God using you and us, we will get to where we want to go.

“I just got back from the United States; the President of America is like the President of the world because it is the most powerful country. In most cases, if you go for UN General Assembly; if you are to speak immediately after the US President, then you are in trouble. Immediately he speaks, about two thirds of the hall will leave because everybody wants to listen to the President of America.

“When Obama spoke during the Security Council meeting outside the General Assembly, he commended Nigeria, but back home, we are being abused. When the President of South Africa and Gabon spoke, they commended Nigeria, but here, we are not being appreciated. But what I can assure you is that Nigeria is on course and with your prayers and the guidance of God, we will surely get to the destination we are going.

“It is not going to be easy because just like Rev. Yusuf Turaki said, there are Goliaths everywhere, very terrible Goliaths; the ones that can even kill their father and mother and even their children in order to stop government are willing to do it. So, we have these terrible Goliaths that are trying to frustrate us; but surely with God, we will conquer them.

“I remember one of the sermons Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor gave here; he said every Goliath has an exposed forehead. All the Goliaths that are stumbling blocks to the development and growth of this country, God will expose their heads for the stone of David.

“Brothers and sisters, we are celebrating Nigeria at 51 after Independence, but as a nation we are 97 years old because Nigeria was amalgamated in 1914. In 2014, we will celebrate the centenary, our 100 years of existence; we will do a big ceremony. Today, we are celebrating 51 years of independence.”

Setback for Sarkozy as French left captures Senate

France's left-wing opposition has won a majority in the Senate for the first time in recent French history in a major blow to conservative President Nicolas Sarkozy seven months before the country's presidential election.

France's left-wing opposition won an historic victory in senatorial elections Sunday, in a blow to centre-right leader President Nicolas Sarkozy seven months before he is to seek re-election.
The Socialist Party said that, with its Communist and Green allies, it had won enough seats to give the left control of the upper house for the first time in French history, a stepping stone towards a presidential win.
"Nicolas Sarkozy will go down in history as the president that lost the right its majority in the Senate," declared Francois Hollande, favourite to win the Socialist Party's nomination to run against Sarkozy next year.
"In a way it's like a premonition of what will happen in 2012," he said.
Sarkozy's prime minister, Francois Fillon, admitted the right had suffered from its divisions and that the left had made a "strong breakthrough".
"The moment of truth will come next spring. The battle begins tonight," Fillon said in a statement, calling on the right to unite behind Sarkozy's government in time to turn the tide before the late April vote.
Right-wing parties have controlled the Senate since the Fifth Republic was founded in 1958, and Sunday's flip to the left could break the already weak momentum of Sarkozy's unannounced re-election drive.
Before the vote, outgoing speaker Gerard Larcher had admitted to AFP that if he was defeated by the left it would be a political "earthquake" and "the preparations for the presidential election would be singularly changed."
The historic Senate victory also opens the door to a possible Socialist hat-trick, given that opinion polls suggest the left will win next year's presidential and parliamentary elections.
"For the first time, the National Assembly, the Senate and the president could be from the left, which would give them serious weight if they decided to modify the constitution," said political scientist Bruno Jeanbert.
The Senate is not chosen by universal suffrage but by a "super-electorate" of elected officials -- around 72,000 mayors, local and regional councillors, voting for figures on the basis of regional lists.
Around half the seats in the 348-strong house were up for grabs in the poll, and the left needed to add only 22 more seats to win a majority.
With many centrists, independents and non-party figures in the upper house, it might be a few days before the exact division of forces becomes clear.
The outgoing speaker, UMP stalwart Gerard Larcher, said before the vote that he was confident of maintaining at least a six- to 12-seat margin to win re-election to his post on October 1 when the new chamber meets.
Bel now expects to garner enough votes to unseat him, with the Socialists and their allies believing that they have a narrow majority.
Larcher did not initially admit defeat, howvever, with results still coming in, and insisted he would remain his party's candidate for speaker, hoping to cobble together enough centrist votes to squeak through.
But the mood in Sarkozy's camp was decidedly more sombre.
Budget Minister Valerie Pecresse said she regretted the result and said she was "sad" for Larcher and his team.
Claude Goasguen, a UMP lawmaker from Paris, admitted his party had had a bad day in the capital. "We have to take on board the consequences quickly," he said, calling for a root-and-branch renewal of the Paris party.
And the mood in the country appeared to have already had direct political consequences, with Pecresse confirming the threshold for top rate income tax might be brought lower.
The Senate vote has no direct bearing on next April's presidential poll, which will be open to all French voters and conducted over two rounds, the second a head-to-head run-off between the best placed candidates.
But defeat is an ill omen for Sarkozy, whose party is already nervous about his low poll ratings and the ongoing economic and financial crisis.
Sarkozy has attempted to play on his foreign policy credentials as the current leader of the G8 and G20 great power blocs and the main foreign champion of the Libyan revolution that toppled Moamer Kadhafi.
But whatever glory he may have picked up on the international stage has been drowned out at home by the implication of his closest allies in a series of high-level corruption and party-funding scandals.
Meanwhile, unemployment remains high and France's financial sector has found itself under attack on the markets, where traders fear its banks are overexposed to risky Greek and Italian debts.

Libyan fighters, NATO strike Gaddafi hometown of Sirt

Fighters for Libya's interim rulers entered Moamer Kadhafi's hometown Sirte on Saturday in a surprise assault that NATO said it backed to halt brutal acts by followers of the ousted regime.

National Transitional Council (NTC) chief Mustafa Abdel Jalil said an interim government would be announced next week and that the new authorities had control over Kadhafi's internationally "banned weapons".

Misrata military council spokesman Abdel Ibrahim said seven NTC fighters were killed and 145 injured in what appeared to have been a pincer movement launched from the south and east.

Using tanks and pick-up trucks mounted with anti-aircraft guns, the NTC forces cleared away roadblocks set up by Kadhafi forces and drove toward the city centre before putting up their own defences in advanced positions.

On a beach road surrounded by craters and pock-marked buildings, a 106mm anti-tank cannon repeatedly pounded Kadhafi positions, backed by a barrage of mortars and multiple rocket-launchers.

"We are pushing them back" after a "surprise" order to attack issued by the NTC's military top brass, commander Mohammed al-Aswawi said in a radio truck monitoring units on the front.

"First we get the families out, and then the order is to attack and free Sirte," he told AFP.

"There is also an advance from the south," he added, as the Misrata Military Council said that front was being reinforced by NTC fighters who had taken part in "the liberation of Al-Jafra."

Frontline fighters in Sirte are convinced that one of Kadhafi's sons, Mutassim, is holed up in the city's southern outskirts.

"Mutassim is in there. We hear him on the radio giving orders," NTC operations commander Osama Muttawa Swehly told AFP on Saturday.

As the battle raged into the evening, another commander, Hassan Tarhar Zaluk, said NTC forces would have to resume the fight for Sirte on Sunday.

"We're going to stop for the evening. There's no light in there. We'll start again tomorrow," he said.

NTC fighters also came under heavy fire as they advanced inside Sirte's eastern gates, another AFP correspondent reported.

"Our troops went seven kilometres inside through the eastern gate and there were sporadic to sometimes heavy clashes with Kadhafi's forces," said commander Mohammed al-Marimi of the Fakriddin Sallabi Brigade.

The assault was launched after reports of a rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation in the city of around 75,000 inhabitants.

NATO forces struck at Kadhafi forces after reports they had moved against civilians there, endangering "hundreds of families", a statement from the alliance said.

"Among the reports emerging from Sirte are executions, hostage-taking, and the calculated targeting of individuals, families, and communities within the city," it added.

Heavy fighting also raged in Bani Walid, the only other remaining pro-Kadhafi bastion. Medics reported a total of 30 NTC troops killed so far on that front.

A pro-Kadhafi radio station called for a gathering at one of Bani Walid's squares, after a similar call from Kadhafi's most prominent son, Seif al-Islam, for people to rise up for the town's "liberation".

On the political front, the NTC held talks on forming a new government amid doubts over whether disagreements that prevented a deal last week could be immediately overcome.

"Differences in views" between members of the NTC and the executive council had delayed a deal, Abdel Jalil told reporters, but the composition of the interim government would be announced in the coming week.

That had been due to be set up last Sunday, but was postponed indefinitely because of haggling over portfolios.

Abdel Jalil said the new authorities had control over internationally "banned weapons" from Kadhafi's regime, when asked about the presence of such weapons in the south.

The International Atomic Energy Agency on Friday confirmed the existence of raw uranium stored in drums at the southern city of Sabha.

"These weapons are between Waddan and Sabha," said Abdel Jalil, referring to the other central town.

"We will call for Libyan technicians and the international community to get rid of these weapons safely," he said.

While Libya's new authorities do not know where Kadhafi is, they are focusing on taking Sirte and Bani Walid, two places where some think he might be. Reports have also emerged that he may be in the south.

"General Belgasem al-Abaaj, who we captured on Monday, said that Kadhafi had contacted him by phone about 10 days ago, and that he was moving secretly between (the oases of) Sabha and Ghat," an NTC commander, Mohammed Barka Wardugu, told AFP.

Abaaj had said Kadhafi "is helped by Nigerian and Chadian mercenaries who know the desert routes," added Wardugu, spokesman for the Desert Shield Brigade.

Friday's statement from Kadhafi's daughter Aisha that said her father was well and fighting on the ground -- and denouncing the new administration in Libya as traitors -- got a sharp reaction from the Algerian authorities.

Algerian Foreign Minister Mourad Mdeleci described her comments as "unacceptable", the country's APS agency reported. Her telephone message was broadcast by Syria-based Arrai television.

Algeria received Aisha Kadhafi, her mother and other members of their family when they fled Libya in August.

Algeria, which after criticism from the NTC in Libya defended its decision to receive the Kadhafis on humanitarian grounds, on Friday said it was willing to work with the new administration.

In New York, NTC prime minister Mahmoud Jibril told the United Nations General Assembly that a new Libya was coming to life.

But he added: "The asset freeze on our funds must be lifted as urgently as possible."

source:France 24

IKEJA L.G COUNCIL ELECTION

 CHAIRMANSHIP ASPIRANT PROMISES 

WELFARE PACKAGE IF ELECTED

                                      

Posted by Lateef Lawal 

The chairmanship aspirant to the  Ikeja local government council, Olarenwaju Oluwatoyin Osundairo has promised to establish a micro credit scheme for the resident of Ikeja in the metropolis.

Osundairo, who lamented the absence of visible projects in the Ikeja local government area o the state, pledged that if elected chairman of the local government he will make street lights, adequate drainage channels and job creation for youths his priority.
Speaking to newsmen in Lagos, the People Democratic Party (PDP) aspirant explained that because residents of Ikeja are attuned to business, he will create a platform through the setting up of cooperative societies to enable residents access funds to boost their
business, thereby creating an avenue to improve revenue.
He explained that the quality of representation in Ikeja, has been abysmal, hence the desire for him to throw himself into the race to
seek the office of the chairman of the local government to improve the life of the people. Osundairo blamed the challenge of ‘street urchins’ otherwise known as area boys on lack of access to quality education as well as unemployment, affirming that if voted into office as chairman of Ikeja LGA, he will utilise the council’s resources to empower the people through welfare and empowerment programmes.
He condemn the phenomenon of god fatherism in politics, affirming that one of the wheels in the clog of democratic progress is the
overbearing influence of godfathers, who as rent seekers continues to exploit those they sponsored into elected offices.
Osundairo however advocated for an upward review of the allocation formula, such that local government councils, could get more money to execute people oriented programmes, affirming that the joint state account between local councils and their respective state governments hinders the autonomy of local councils.
He however called on the national assembly to expedite the passage of the local govt council autonomy bill before it to give local councils muscle to carry out their statutory mandate.
He added: “When elected as chairman of the council, the challenges of bad road, streets not fully light, youth unemployment, will be given serious attention that is why l am calling for autonomy for local governments to improve their direct funding. Because local government is about the grassroots, l shall give my best to improve the quality of life of our
people”
He spoke of plans to establish Ikeja local government council transport services, street lighting projects which he affirmed will
improve security in addition to setting up a fire fighting department. Osundaira, however called for generational change in the PDP,
affirming that elders in the party should give room to the younger generation whom he said has the capacity to turn around the leadership of Nigeria

UN offices bombing:

Nigeria wants al-Qaeda-linked militant

Nigerian authorities announced on Wednesday that Mamman Nur, a member of the local Islamist sect Boko Haram, is wanted as the primary suspect behind last week's bomb attack on UN headquarters in Abuja that left 23 people dead.

Nigerian authorities said yesterday that a member of a local Islamist sect who has al-Qaeda links orchestrated the bombing last week on the U.N.  headquarters in Abuja that killed 23 people, and they declared him wanted.

“Investigation has revealed that one Mamman Nur, a notorious Boko Haram element with al Qaeda links who returned recently from Somalia, working in concert with two suspects masterminded the attack on the United Nations building in Abuja,” the Department of State Services said in a statement.

It did not give details of how it came to this conclusion, beyond mentioning that the two Boko Haram suspects were in detention and had given “valuable statements”.

“We implore ... the general public to cooperate with security agencies by providing useful information that could lead to the arrest of Mamman Nur, who is hereby declared wanted,” it said.

The bomb on Friday gutted a floor, smashed nearly all of the windows and also wounded 76 people, U.N. officials said—one of the worst attacks on the United Nations in its history and deadlier than a 2003 blast on its offices in Baghdad that killed 22 people. 

Boko Haram, whose name means “Western education is sinful” in the northern Nigerian Hausa language, has become President Goodluck Jonathan’s biggest security headache/ It has carried almost daily shootings or attacks with homemade bombs against security services and civilians in the remote northeast.

Jonathan sought to reassure Nigerians on Tuesday that he was stepping up security to prevent more bomb attacks.

The U.N. bombing marks an increase in the sophistication of Boko Haram’s attacks, apparently with more powerful explosives, and an escalation from local to international targets, analysts say. Some suggest Boko Haram is developing global ambitions and may have connected with al Qaeda’s North African wing.

If Nigerian authorities are correct, it may also have linked up with jihadists in Somalia.

Some Nigerians worry that the oil industry – only just recovering from militancy in the southern Niger Delta region that mostly ceased with an amnesty in 2009 – might be the next target, although moving into the mostly Christian south would prove a huge challenge for Islamist militants.

“This latest attack ... aimed at the U.N. indicates an internationalisation of the struggle and bears hallmarks of an al Qaeda connection,” the Eurasia Group wrote on Tuesday.

“While this is a worrying development for investors, including western oil companies, the oil-rich Niger Delta will be much harder terrain for Boko Haram to operate in.”

Source:France24