Distractions are meant to bring down my govt - Jonathan

President Goodluck Jonathan on Sunday said those behind the mayhem perpetrated by the Boko Haram insurgents  in the country were planning to bring down his government.

He said this at the 2014 Democracy Day Interdenominational Church Service with the theme 'Love The Lord and your Neighbour' in Abuja, where he described them as evil forces.

'You can imagine if this government had not been facing these distractions within this period, definitely, we would have moved farther than this.

'All these distractions are planned to bring this government down and since they failed, terror will also fail.

'We have been witnessing terror attacks for two years plus, but the Chibok incident has added a major dent on the security of the country. There is nothing God cannot do. With your prayers, our girls will be seen by our security personnel, 'he said.

'Terror will not stop this country from progressing. We know that these terrorists are human and they are evil men. Definitely, they are among those we categorise as evil forces.

'Forces of evil will never prevail. Forces of darkness will never prevail. I call on all Nigerians, Christians and non-Christians who pray, to continue to pray and I believe that God is on our side. Forces of evil and darkness will never prevail,' he said.

On the issue of abducted school girls of Chibok, President Jonathan admitted that the incident was a major dent on the nation's security. But he however,  assured Nigerians that despite the security challenges, elections would hold next year as scheduled.

He explained that one of the beauties of democracy which the nation has been practising for   15 years was that every public office holder knows the terminal date of his administration.

He said, 'After today, the next Democracy Day will witness a new government.

'I remember when I was in my village   to collect my permanent voter card , a pressman asked me if there would be elections in Nigeria and I told him 'yes.'

'This country will continue to move on in spite of some of the setbacks we are witnessing. '

Buttressing his speech from the Holy Bible, the President said nothing could separate Nigerians from the love of God because forces of retrogression had always remained part of human history.

'In human history, either individuals or societies, they are always confronted with two forces- the forces of development and forces of retrogression. They call the later   evil forces.

'Our country is facing the challenges of some of these forces, the evil forces. I really do not want to celebrate them because surely, we will get over them.

'You will agree with me that within these three years of this government, our agenda for transformation is coming out.

'We have not reached where we want to go but there are certain signs that people will use to know whether government is committed or is deceiving,' he said.