Tag: Hollande

  • It must have been distraction galore

    Bed of emotional roses? No, forget it! Perhaps, that is where dreamers want to be at all times. However, the crux of the matter is that love, like life obviously has its high and low points. There is indeed a season to love, seasons to cry and of course a season when you may just have to let go, if the other party redefines what love means to them.

    Unfortunately, a lot of people prefer to dwell on the positives more. As soon as the emotional pendulum shifts in the other direction, then things begin to crumble and fall part. Naturally, every woman dream is to find her way into emotional paradise, a place where the man has been ‘captured’ crook whether physically or emotionally.

    So the dream begins and the only desire here is to have him till death does ‘them’ apart. However this usually appears to be the most difficult part of the emotional bargain. Reason: “ Men can be really slippery when it comes to matters of the heart, just when they think they have found what they are looking for in a woman, another distraction comes and somehow they find it difficult to look in the other direction.

    Insecurity, doubt , uncertainty fear and ultimately panic are things that goes on in the minds of women whose love are going through one form of distraction or the other.

    It’s the feeling of suddenly not being sure where you stand with your man. You’re not sure what he’s thinking about and what’s bothering him. Soon, you may even begin to worry that you can’t count on him to “come back” and be completely there for you.

    Add it all up, and it’s easy to see why, when your man pulls away, closes off, and stops communicating with you.

    Sometimes, it may be the tonic required to turn the whole situation around and make your relationship come out even stronger, more secure, and more connected on the other side. One case that comes to mind at the moment is French President, Francois Hollande.

    Ms Valerie Trierweiler was the one who occupied the uppermost part of Hollande’s heart until this discovery was made in the Closer magazine recently. This emotional bomb shattered her heart and she has since been hospitalized.

    The damning photographs allegedly also showed the two-timing president going to comical lengths to keep his romantic liaisons with Miss Gayet a secret.

    Mr. Hollande was pictured disguised beneath a helmet and a dark coat arriving on a three-wheeled moped driven by his bodyguard.

    He spent the night there on several occasions. One morning, his publicly-funded bodyguard returned carrying breakfast croissants.

    Mr. Hollande has threatened legal action against Closer for breaching his privacy but has not denied the affair.

    On his part Hollande has been urged by his fellow country men and women to clarify the situation in his complicated love life. To be or not to be? That is the emotional question being asked here. Well, the President who interestingly is in hot demand here must bell the cat. He must be courageous enough to tell the world that the beautiful actress, Julie Gayet has stolen his heart.

    For the man on the emotional cross, it is a private affair. The other argument however is that the private side of a public man or woman cannot be swept under the carpet. The pertinent thing here is that the President has an obligation to ‘clarify’ his relationship with his girlfriend of seven years because of his on-going love affair with the actress so that the public knows where he stands.

    It is an emotional war between Ms Trierweiler, 48 and Julie Gayet, 41. At the end of the emotional imbroglio, the winner certainly takes it all.

    Interestingly, Trierweiler became Mr. Hollande’s live-in girlfriend following his separation from fellow Socialist politician Segolene Royal, the mother of his four children. Mr. Hollande was said to have taken her as mistress while still living with Miss Royal.

    The French magazine Closer which spilled the emotional beans carried comical pictures of him sneaking in to his Paris love nest wearing a helmet after arriving by scooter.

    Hollande, 59, is said to have made a full confession to Valerie the night before full details were published in France’s Closer magazine.

    The couple is not married but has been together for six years, making her the de facto first lady when the Socialist leader became President in 2012.

    ‘He denied nothing. Neither the escapades on the scooter with the security officer in the middle of the night, nor the frequency of these clandestine rendezvous, nor the date that this love affair began… several months ago.’

    Hollande and his new found love met at a £2.5million Paris love nest, registered to writer and actor Michel Ferracci. Ferracci, once a close friend and business associate of assassinated Corsican mafia boss Richard Casanova, is a former lover of the French actress Emmanuelle Hauck, who now uses the flat with their children.

    Miss Hauck is a friend of Miss Gayet, and there is a suggestion that is how she came to use the apartment to meet Mr. Hollande.

  • Mali’s operation reaches ‘final phase’

    Mali’s operation reaches ‘final phase’

    French President Francois Hollande has said his country’s forces are engaged in the “final phase” of the fight against militants in northern Mali.

    He said there had been heavy fighting in the Ifoghas mountains, where members of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) were thought to be hiding.

    Mr. Hollande also praised Chadian troops for their efforts in the same area, BBC says.

    13 Chadian soldiers and some 65 militants were killed in clashes on Friday, according to the Chadian army.

    Chad’s government has promised to deploy 2,000 troops as part of the African-led International Support Mission to Mali (Afisma).

    Speaking in Paris on Saturday, President Hollande said “heavy fighting” was taking place in the far north of Mali, near the Algerian border.

    “This is the final phase of the process since it is in that massif [the Ifoghas mountains] that AQIM forces have probably regrouped,” he said.

    “Our Chadian friends launched an attack yesterday which was very harsh with significant loss of life,” Mr. Hollande added. “I want to praise what the Chadians are doing.”

    The latest fighting was between Islamists militants and ethnic Tuareg in the In-Khalil area, near the border town of Tessalit.

     

  • Presidency cancels FEC meeting

    Presidency cancels FEC meeting

    The weekly meeting of the Federal Executive Council did not hold at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Wednesday, the News Agency of Nigeria reports.

    FEC is the highest Federal Executive decision-making body presided over by the President with the Vice-President, Secretary to the Government of the Federation and all the ministers in attendance.

    The Head of Service of the Federation and some presidential aides are also members of the Council.

    NAN reports that there is no official reason given by the presidency on why Wednesday’s meeting did not hold.

    Some ministers who were not aware of the development arrived at the villa before 10am, the usual commencement time of the meeting, but were turned back by protocol officials.

    With the absence of President Goodluck Jonathan, Vice-President Namadi Sambo would have presided over the meeting.

    Jonathan left Abuja on Tuesday night for London and Paris to confer with the British Prime Minister, David Cameron and the President of France, Francois Hollande on matters of vital interests to Nigeria, Britain and France.

    The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr Reuben Abati, had said in a statement on Tuesday that the president would, on his way to London, stop over in Cairo, Egypt.

    He said the President would participate in the conference of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) scheduled to open there on Wednesday.

    According to Abati, the President would also attend the launch of former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s Foundation in London on Friday.

    He said the president would be back in Abuja on Monday.

     

  • Terrorism: Jonathan to meet Cameron, Hollande

    Terrorism: Jonathan to meet Cameron, Hollande

    President Goodluck Jonathan is expected to jet out of Abuja on Tuesday night to meet with the British Prime Minister, Mr. David Cameron and French President, Mr. Francois Hollande over terrorism in West Africa.

    A statement issued by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, said that the President, who will be accompanied by the First Lady and other government officials, will also discuss trade and economic relations with the British prime minister.

    The President is also expected to stop over in Egypt to attend the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).

    The statement reads: “President Goodluck Jonathan will leave Abuja tonight for London and Paris to confer with the British Prime Minister, Mr. David Cameron and the President of France, Mr. Francois Hollande on matters of vital interest to Nigeria, Britain and France.

    “The President’s talks with the British Prime Minister in London are expected to focus on the expansion of trade and economic relations between Nigeria and Britain as well as the enhancement of cooperation between both countries on the war against terrorism.

    “In Paris, President Jonathan will confer with President Hollande and French Government officials on the ongoing deployment of Nigerian and ECOWAS troops to Mali to support the current military action against insurgents and terrorists in Northern Mali.

    “On his way to London, President Jonathan will stop over in Cairo, Egypt to participate in the conference of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) scheduled to open there tomorrow. He is also scheduled to attend the launching of the Olusegun Obasanjo Foundation in London on Friday.

    “The President who will be accompanied by the First Lady and relevant government officials is due back in Abuja on Monday.”

     

  • Frenchman’s abductors have Qaeda or Mali links – Hollande

    Frenchman’s abductors have Qaeda or Mali links – Hollande

     

    Gunmen who abducted a Frenchman in Katsina probably have links to Al Qaeda’s North African group or to Islamist groups in northern Mali, French President Francois Hollande said Friday.

    “He was captured by a heavily armed group which killed two Nigerians and is probably linked to AQIM (Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb) or the groups which are today in Mali,” AFP news agency quoted Mr. Hollande as telling a French radio station.

    “We have to be firm when it comes to terrorism while at the same time maintaining contacts to free” French nationals, he told Europe 1 radio.

    On Thursday, a group of around 30 gunmen stormed a residence in Katsina where expatriate workers were staying.

    They kidnapped a French engineer, killing a security guard and a neighbour.

    His employer, French company Vergnet said the man was a contractor working for the firm, which specialises in alternative energy and has a wind power project in Katsina.