Jack Susianta canal death was 'drug-related accident'

Image caption Jack Susianta suffered a psychotic incident when he died The death of a teenager who drowned in a London canal was a drug-related accident, an inquest jury has ruled. Jack Susianta died in a canal at Walthamstow Marshes on 29 July last year. He had suffered a psychotic episode and smashed through a window at his family home and fled in just a t-shirt, socks and boxer shorts. The 17-year-old jumped in the canal to evade police believing they were not real officers. The jury at St Pancras Coroner's Court reached a unanimous conclusion of drug-related accidental death. During the inquest, his mother said her son had taken the drug MDMA at a festival the week before. She added that he had "a few anxieties and paranoia". 'High-risk situations' In a statement, Jack's family said: "When Jack became ill we sought help from professionals because we had never been in this situation before." They added they were "relieved" that the jury had not sought to blame Jack for his own death. "We hope that this process will result in other vulnerable young people and their families receiving better support from the authorities." The court also heard from witnesses who criticised the police's response, saying officers were "hesitant" to go into the water to save him. But one officer, PC Tom Griffiths, said he saw the teenager go underwater and believed it was a "deliberate act" to evade them. Acting Insp James Reynolds said police had to carry out an assessment before taking action because the water looked "really oily, dark and you could not see below the surface". Following the verdict, the Met's Commander for east London, Lucy D'Orsi, said: "My colleagues arrive at work each day ready to face endless unknown and high-risk situations. "Sixty percent of our calls are not directly linked to crime with many being to help vulnerable people who need assistance. It's this work that actually inspired many of us to join as police officers."

Billionaire investor Carl Icahn sells entire stake in Apple

Billionaire investor Carl Icahn sells entire stake in Apple Icahn has sold his shares in the company because of concerns over China’s influence on its stock price Apple logo Apple’s shares have closed down by more than 3% at $94.83. Photograph: Eric Risberg/AP Alex Hern and agencies @alexhern Friday 29 April 2016 01.13 BST Last modified on Friday 29 April 2016 10.57 BST Share on Pinterest Share on LinkedIn Share on Google+ Shares 604 Comments 521 Save for later Carl Icahn, the billionaire activist investor who has long been one of the most prominent voices declaring the company to be undervalued, says he has sold his entire stake in the technology firm, citing the risk of China’s influence on the stock. After years of high growth, reaching triple-digit percentage points in 2015, Apple now sells more in China than it does in the whole of Europe. But sales in the country are now shrinking, with revenue dropping 26% year-on-year in the company’s latest quarterly earnings. Icahn’s concerns aren’t related to the China slowdown, however. Instead, the investor is concerned with the barriers to trade that China’s authoritarian regime might put in place. “You can’t go into that business unless you’re like Samsung which is really like a country backing it,” Icahn told US cable television network CNBC. “A lot of people tried, a lot of people failed … In China, for instance, they will come in and make it very difficult for Apple to sell there. They could theoretically, you know … They’re basically in some senses I would say, perhaps benevolent but a benevolent dictatorship. I don’t know if benevolent is the right word.” In response to further questioning, Icahn clarified that he wasn’t concerned with interference so much as with the country’s “relationship” with Apple. “The thing that I’m worried about here in China doesn’t affect the whole market. I’m not talking about China’s economic status right now. I’m talking about, could the thing with Apple escalate a little bit? And if that does, what does that mean to Apple’s profits during the interim? “What we could talk about is another question and it seems to be taken care of somewhat, China’s economy itself. I’m no expert on it but that’s not what I’m talking about it. I’m talking about the facts that you see. That China is sort of looking at Apple and saying ‘Well can you do this? Should we let you do that? Should we let you do this?’” A brief guide to everything that’s annoying about Apple Read more Apple’s close relationship to the Chinese state has already brought criticism from activist groups such as anti-censorship campaigners GreatFire, who told the Guardian “I’d say to them, well, what have you accomplished? What improvements have been made? What has changed since the time you came in and said ‘engagement is better’? How have you improved the human rights situation? How have you improved the internet freedom situation? How have you improved access to information?” Icahn also said he was “still very cautious” on the US stock market and there would be a “day of reckoning” unless there was some sort of fiscal stimulus. Icahn had been a huge cheerleader of Apple, acquiring a stake in the company almost three years ago, repeatedly calling the investment a “no brainer.” In an open letter to Apple chief executive Tim Cook in May 2015, Icahn had argued that shares of the iPhone maker were worth $240 (£164), about 90% more than they had been trading. At $240 a share, Apple’s market cap would be $1.4tn, Icahn asserted. But Icahn, who owned 45.8m Apple shares at the end of last year, said China’s economic slowdown and worries about how China could become more prohibitive in doing business triggered his decision to exit his position entirely. “We no longer have a position in Apple,” he said. “Tim Cook did a great job. I called him this morning to tell him that and he was a little sorry, obviously. But I told him it’s a great company. “In Apple today as opposed to six months or a year ago, in this one, there’s no need for activism because I think they have a great management. But you worry a little bit, maybe more than a little, about China’s attitude.” The Chinese government could “come in and make it very difficult for Apple to sell there ... you can do pretty much what you want there”, Icahn said. Earlier this month, China shut down Apple’s iTunes movies and iBooks stores within the country, following Beijing’s introduction of regulations in March imposing strict curbs on online publishing, particularly for foreign firms. Asked when he might get back in, Icahn replied: “I don’t think it’s the price point. I think it’s my opinion about what is happening with China. I think the stock is very cheap on a multiple basis. China could be a shadow for it, and we have to look at that.” Icahn, who suggested that he made roughly $2bn on his shares in the company, said he was in Apple for about three years and “if you bought the stock then, you got a 48% to 50% total return. We obviously made a great deal of money, but it was no surprise that we got out of some in February.” Apple shares came under further selling pressure during Icahn’s television interview, as did the Dow Jones industrials with Apple closing down more than 3% at $94.83. The Dow ended down by 210 points. Apple on Tuesday posted its first decline in iPhone sales as well as its first revenue drop in 13 years. The company’s sales fell by more than a quarter in China, its most important market after the US, and it forecast another disappointing quarter for global revenues. Apple shares have now declined more than 10% this week.

Why do so many elite athletes have asthma?

Why do so many elite athletes have asthma? Simon Yates tested positive for asthma medication, while studies found a third of Team Sky’s riders and 70% of the top British swimmers have the condition Simon Yates Simon Yates did not have a therapeutic use exemption certificate for Terbutaline but hard work in tough conditions can bring on exercise-induced asthma. Photograph: Rex/Shutterstock Peter Walker @peterwalker99 Friday 29 April 2016 11.30 BST Last modified on Friday 29 April 2016 14.39 BST Share on Pinterest Share on LinkedIn Share on Google+ Shares 252 Save for later The idea of a supremely fit professional cyclist like Simon Yates having to occasionally reach for an inhaler to ward off a wheeze might seem anomalous. But asthma is surprisingly common among some elite athletes. Orica-GreenEdge: Simon Yates’s positive drug test was ‘administrative error’ Read more A handful have classic asthma, the usually allergy-triggered constriction of the bronchial tubes that tends to begin in childhood. Much more common in sport is exercise-induced asthma, or EIA, in which rapid and heavy breathing causes the same symptoms. The effect can be exacerbated by atmospheric conditions, which means some sportspeople tend to suffer more than others. John Dickinson from Kent University’s school of sport & exercise sciences, a world expert on asthma in sport, tested all 33 UK-based members of the British swimming squad and found 70% had some form of asthma, against a national asthma rate of about 8% to 10%. It is believed the chlorinated atmosphere of a pool could be a factor in this. Cycling is another sport where EIA is common – Dickinson’s test on cyclists from Team Sky found a third have the condition. Rapid inhalation of cold, dry air has been identified as a trigger of EIA. Around half of elite cross-country skiers have the condition, as does Paula Radcliffe. While EIA can occasionally bring on have very serious symptoms, sometimes athletes do not realise they have it until they are tested. The test involves them breathing a very dry air mixture for six minutes at high ventilation, with their lung function tested before and after. The asthma-induced fall in lung function can be as much as 40%. Speaking to the Guardian in 2014, Dickinson said the condition remained a source of some debate: “It depends which respiratory consultant you talk to on whether you put these athletes on a spectrum of asthma, or whether you think that’s purely down to them exercising really hard in a certain environment, and if you take them out of that environment they’re fine. It’s a grey zone. But my argument is it’s a form of asthma.” It’s not unknown for professional cyclists to carry a reliever inhaler, which helps stop a wheeze as it begins, in the back pocket of a jersey. Use of salbutamol, the most common form of such bronchodilator drugs, usually taken as a blue inhaler, does not need a doctor’s therapeutic use exemption certificate within certain limits. Terbutaline, the bronchodilator taken by Yates, is permitted by anti-doping authorities as an inhaler, but only with a certificate. Certificates are also needed for the more powerful preventer inhalers for asthma, which aim to ward off symptoms, the most common of which are steroid-based. The injection of any anti-asthma drugs is not permitted.

FORD AS ONE OF THE TOP SELLING CAR OF 2015

Home > Cars > 21 Top Selling Cars of 2015 21 Top Selling Cars of 2015 5 Follow Carophile Ford F-150 Automotive Rhythms Photo by Automotive Rhythms 1. FORD F-150 MSRP: $33,580 The Ford F-150 and other F-Series pickup trucks from the Ford Motor Company were the top selling car of 2015. Ford sold more than 695,144 of the trucks this year which was almost 20,000 more than in 2014. The F-150 is also one of the most fuel efficient trucks ever produced by the auto manufacturer with a fuel economy rating of 18 MPG (city) and 26 MPG (highway). The maximum speed of the popular pickup truck is more than 105 MPH (107 to be exact), and the vehicle can go from zero to 60 MPH in a sports car-like 5.6 seconds. The stock engine in the auto is a 3.5 liter V-6 with the choice to downgrade to a 2.7 liter V-6 or upgrade to a 5.0 liter V-8 when buying the vehicle new. The power ratings of the truck engines range from 282 to 385 horsepower.

Ford There’s really nothing like a crisp autumn day spent outside with your friends and family tailgating before a football game. This quintessential American pastime can seem as important as the sport itself. We’ve worked with our partners at Honk.com to develop a list of the most popular vehicles for tailgating. They surveyed people who enjoyed attending live sporting events to find out what vehicles were most popular. All the coupes and sedans were filtered out of the list to focus on the body styles that encourage people to gather round and enjoy the pre-game festivities. Here you have it, the top 10 in order of popularity. Previous Next

Collapse 36 states to 6 zones, Ekweremadu tells FG Michael Abimboye 2 hours ago 51315 Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Send email -Ekweremadu has proposed that the 36 states be collapsed into 6 zone -Ekweremadu’s positions were offered in his new book, Who will love my country: Ideas of building the Nigeria of our dreams Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Deputy Senate president, Ike Ekweremadu Nigeria’s deputy senate president, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, has called for the collapse of the 36 states of the federation into six geopolitical zones. According to the legislator, the move is a drastic restructuring of the country to avoid continually hindering of development. The abolition of the 36 states, he said, would release the latent potentials for growth by the regions, which he said, were, over the years, foiled by the reckless derailment of the country’s federalism by successive military governments. READ ALSO: SHOCKER! House of Reps Clerk gave N500m bribe to be promoted Clerk of National Assembly – PDP Ekweremadu’s positions were offered in his new book, Who will love my country: Ideas of building the Nigeria of our dreams, which is due for public presentation tomorrow, April 27 in Abuja. The Deputy President of the Senate praised the nation’s founding fathers, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Dr. Nnamadi Azikiwe and Sir Ahmadu Bello, for espousing federalism as the basis of the country’s federation at independence. He said that suggestions that fiscal federalism would bring about distortive growth were untenable, affirming that even in a forest, not all trees are equal. Meanwhile, there are reports that Ekweremadu could replace embattled senate president Bukola saraki as President of the senate should the CCT rule against Mr

collinsdans: A LONG BULLET'S LONG TOLL

collinsdans: A LONG BULLET'S LONG TOLL: A Lone Bullet’s Long Toll Surgeons showing the new titanium plate installed in the jaw of Dustin (Doc) Kirby, a former Navy corpsman who wa...

A LONG BULLET'S LONG TOLL

A Lone Bullet’s Long Toll Surgeons showing the new titanium plate installed in the jaw of Dustin (Doc) Kirby, a former Navy corpsman who was shot through the mouth in Iraq in 2006. The plate, affixed to the mandible with screws, is part of a new round of facial reconstruction for Kirby, who has struggled with pain, as well as with speech and with eating, for nearly a decade. Credit C.J. Chivers/The New York Times The surgeons were almost three hours into their work on their extravagantly tattooed patient, Dustin E. Kirby, when they started the first cut through his jaw. Guided by a plastic jig, Dr. Stephanie Teng, a resident at Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan, pushed the reciprocating blade of a small electric hand saw through the bone. The blade protested as it moved, its pitch rising to a slight grinding whine, until the bone parted. The first cut was done. Almost 10 years after he was shot through the mouth, Kirby, a veteran of the Iraq War, was having his face overhauled again, the latest stop on what will be a lifelong tour of the damage a single bullet can do. In the hours leading up to this moment, the surgical team, led by Dr. David L. Hirsch, the reconstruction director of maxillofacial surgery at the New York Head and Neck Institute, had removed the metal hardware that for years held Kirby’s previously shattered bones in place. This was a tedious undertaking of backing out rows of titanium screws that fastened the old plates to his bullet-wrecked jaw. It was a job accomplished with metal mallets, screwdrivers and a power drill — a process that resembled, in living tissue and in miniature, removing a sagging and overgrown front deck from an otherwise well-loved house. The nurses dropped the outgoing metal into a plastic cup, screw by bloody screw. Now came an afternoon of controlled trauma, as the surgeons continued breaking the jaw with precision cuts and then realigned Kirby’s profile and bite by pulling the mandible forward, up and to his right. This they fixed in place with fresh screws and a long, curved, custom-fitted titanium plate, which Hirsch had prefashioned through a computer-assisted design process called virtual surgical planning. With the follow-up procedures and rows of dental implants to come, the final results were intended to change how Kirby eats, talks, smiles, laughs, kisses and looks — in short, to change how a disfigured man experiences life. Photo Dustin (Doc) Kirby awaiting surgery at Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan on April 18. Credit C.J. Chivers/The New York Times Kirby is known as Doc, a reference to his former duties as a Navy corpsman assigned to a Marine Corps infantry battalion in Karma, Iraq, a small but especially violent town in Anbar Province. I first met him in the fall of 2006 with Joao Silva, a New York Times photographer; one day on a raid we were present as he saved the life of a Marine, Colin Smith, who had been shot through the skull. Kirby’s own turn as a battlefield patient came on Christmas Day that year, when he was 22. He was standing on a rooftop when a single shot found him. The bullet entered through his left cheek and exited his right. Along the way it ripped out part of his tongue and seven teeth, and shattered the right side of his jaw. It also cracked part of his lower skull, near the roof of his mouth, and damaged his sinuses. Doc knew none of this at the time. What he knew was that he had been hit, that his mouth was so full of blood and loose tissue that he could not talk and that if he did not act quickly and decisively he would die. Using his own knife, he pushed a blade into the base of his neck — opening a makeshift airway that bypassed the sputtering mess behind his chin. The tracheotomy ensured his breathing would be maintained, at least for a short while. His wounds carried another set of immediate risks: Because of their location, there was no way for a tourniquet to stop his bleeding. By the time a helicopter had carried him to a military hospital, he was struggling for consciousness. As the doctors leaned over and the anesthetic fog carried him away, he assumed that he was dead. The first medical team saved his life. In the years that followed, other teams undertook the tasks of rebuilding his face. Surgeons removed his right fibula and grafted a portion of it to the right side of his jaw. They installed titanium plates to reinforce his hybrid mandible and give it shape. He began speech therapy so he could relearn to talk, and psychological counseling so he might unpack his experience of being wounded and its particular effects on him, and adjust to a life different from what he had ever imagined. From a distance, at a glance, Doc’s case could seem a success. In most any other war, most any other context, the bullet that blew out the right side of his face would have taken with it his life. Instead, Doc took his place in the long, scarred line of living exhibits showing how the American military was rushing gravely wounded troops from the battlefield and treating them with skills and confidence no American fighting force had known before. In 2007, he was back in the States, still in uniform, helping to train new corpsmen for the combat lifesaving skills they would need in Afghanistan and Iraq. All the while doctors kept working on his face. Those who knew Doc well understood that his recovery did not proceed as far as he hoped, and that the neat stories of maimed but rebounding veterans, a feel-good genre of the period, did not quite apply to him. Doc had dodged death to face a cascade of problems: chronic pain, migraines, PTSD, insomnia. His rebuilt jaw did not line up with his teeth. He retained enough of his tongue that he was able to compensate for speech, but the altered shape of his oral cavity and the damage to his tongue made eating difficult. Sometimes he had to chew food on one side of his mouth, then manipulate it toward his throat with his left index finger. By 2008 his brief marriage had ended. Within a few years he racked up 32 operations. He was jumpy, brooding and self-conscious. To manage pain and sleeplessness, and the loneliness, he took to drinking, sometimes to a restless stupor. When he was medically discharged from the Navy in 2012, he was stripped of a sense of purpose and belonging. When I visited him that spring, he began drinking before we ate lunch. New physical problems presented themselves, in forms only a person who has suffered a devastating wound to the mouth can know – bits of teeth loosened and dropped out, later followed by a chunk of bone and a screw. Doc gained weight, added tattoos and grew a beard, which partly hid the fact that his jaw, his teeth and his mouth were getting worse. By last year he had dialed back his drinking, was in a new relationship and had become a father. But still he struggled to move forward, and his confidence in the Department of Veterans Affairs plummeted. As his dental pain became unbearable, he called for appointments. The V.A. offered him tooth extractions, he and his mother said, after a wait of several months. Tooth extractions were never going to be enough. Doc sensed that his government-funded facial reconstruction had crested, and now was failing. He had no plan. Last year he was 31, tormented by pain and backsliding. “We were at a point where there was not much more they could do,” he said. One night he pulled out an offending tooth with the pliers on his Leatherman tool. Two nights later he removed another. When his mother, Gail Kirby, understood what he had done, she pleaded with him, asking what he wanted, what someone might do to help. “He said, ‘Mama, I want my face,’ ” she said. He had been lean and handsome before. His mother had an idea. It was a long shot. In 2007, Doc attended a benefit dinner honoring veterans at the Waldorf Astoria. It was hosted by the Marine Corps-Law Enforcement Foundation, a private organization that provides college scholarships to the children of Marines and federal law-enforcement officers killed in the line of duty. He was the guest of Jack Doyle, an investment portfolio manager and foundation donor whose brother-in-law, Dennis M. Edwards, was killed in the terrorist attacks in 2001 on the World Trade Center. There Doc met a pair of brothers — a doctor and a dentist — who said that if he ever needed care, they would help. The dentist was a former Marine. Doc had mentioned the meeting to his mother, but in the ensuing years he thought little of their pledge. He forgot their names. “I just thought, That was nice of them to say,” he said. Last September, despondent, his mother emailed Doyle. She warned that she was venting. She apologized for rambling. She said that if he did not want to read her long email, she would understand. And she told him about her son’s ongoing pain and problems, and asked whether he might connect her to the people he had met in New York in 2007 and who had offered help. Twelve minutes later, Doyle wrote back. I’m on it Give me a day or two to get in touch with my friends A Navy Corpsman banged up while Attending to his Marines needs HELP. He’s gonna get it Momma Take a deep breath. He signed it, “JD.” Ten days after that, Gail Kirby received an email from Dr. Spero J. Theodorou, a plastic surgeon in Manhattan and the doctor Doc met at the gala at the Waldorf. He asked for Doc’s medical file and then found Dr. Hirsch, who had pioneered virtual surgical planning and the use of precise three-dimensional models of a patient’s current and reconstructed bone structure to design custom titanium plates — technology that was not available when Doc was shot. He and Lenox Hill Hospital offered Doc the operation and said they would follow up with dental implants, giving him an aligned bite and mouth full of teeth. The price for all this work typically ran to about $300,000. In Doc’s case, Hirsch said, the procedures and implants would be free. More generosity followed: a GoFundMe.com campaign to crowd-source donations for the families’ travel expenses, and grants from the Semper Fi Fund, which covers family costs for veterans as they recover from their wounds. (Disclosure: I donated $100 to the GoFundMe campaign.) Continue reading the main story

A wife burns her husband and sister for having sex....both the husband and her sister are literally experience hell confirming the saying that " hell has no fury like that of a woman's scorned". Men be sensible and respect your marital vows because every day is for the thief and one day is for the owner. Did the wife do the right thing or she went too far???

FORMER PRESIDENT OF NIGERIA IN HIS RECENT SPEECH

I Handed Over A Nigeria With The Largest Economy In Africa – Jonathan

By Temitayo   /  

Immediate past President of Nigeria, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan has stated that when he was elected into office, Nigeria was the second largest economy in Africa but by the time he was leaving, he handed over a Nigeria with the largest economy in Africa.

Jonathan stated this yesterday while speaking to Friends of Africa coalition at the Mayor’s office in Newark, New Jersey, on topics bordering on strengthening democracy and elections.

The Former Nigerian President also noted that in 2009 the richest Nigerian was the 5th richest man in Africa, but he handed over a Nigeria that produced the richest man in Africa.

Jonathan also spoke about the 2015 general elections, the economy of Nigeria before and during his administration and the recent elections in Benin Republic.

According to Dr. Jonathan,

“Even in the 2015 general elections in my country, Nigeria, there was potential for major crisis if I was not a President duly elected by the will of the people.”

“The campaigns leading to the elections almost polarized the country into Christian v Muslims and North v South divide. Most World leaders were worried that our elections will result into major crisis. Some pundits even from here in the United States said that those elections would spell the end of Nigeria and that we would cease to exist as a nation because of the polls.”

Best prices of phones, accessories & gadgets on PricePadi.com

“That is where the leadership question comes into play. As a leader that was duly elected by the people, I considered the people’s interest first. How do I manage my people to avoid killings and destruction of properties? With the interest of the people propelling all the decisions I took, we were able to sail through.”

“Indeed, we sail through because I refused to interfere with the independence of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, having appointed a man I had never met in my life to run it. My philosophy was simple. For elections to be credible, I as a leader, must value the process more than the product of the process. And the citizens must have confidence in the electoral body.”

“This rule of the law of process ensured that Nigeria’s peace, prosperity and progress was not derailed by the conduct and results of the 2015 elections and I am proud to say that while I took over a Nigeria that was the second largest economy in Africa with a GDP of $270.5 billion in 2009, I handed over a Nigeria that had grown to become the largest economy in Africa and the 24th largest economy in the World with a GDP of $574 billion.”

“I inherited a Nigeria in which the trains were not working, and handed over a Nigeria in which citizens can safely travel by trains again. I inherited a Nigeria that was a net importer of cement, and handed over a Nigeria that is a net exporter of cement. In 2009 the richest Nigerian was the 5th richest man in Africa, but I handed over a Nigeria that produced the richest man in Africa.”

“These are but a few of the parameters that illustrate some of the economic transformations we engineered during my term in office. This was made possible by the fact that there was a stable political leadership in Nigeria that did not have to pander to any other constituency except the electorate who brought me to power. And these actions have a contagious effect.”

“Perhaps because of what we achieved in Nigeria, our next door neighbor, Benin Republic, last month replicated what President Mathieu Kerekou did in 1991, that is to organize and conduct free and fair elections that led to the victory of opposition candidate Patrice Talon.”

“Once again, I must commend my friend, the incumbent and outgoing President of Benin Republic, President Thomas Boni Yayi, for his statesmanlike conduct during and after the elections.”

collinsdans:

collinsdans:

I Handed Over A Nigeria With The Largest Economy In Africa – Jonathan

By Temitayo   /  

Immediate past President of Nigeria, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan has stated that when he was elected into office, Nigeria was the second largest economy in Africa but by the time he was leaving, he handed over a Nigeria with the largest economy in Africa.

Jonathan stated this yesterday while speaking to Friends of Africa coalition at the Mayor’s office in Newark, New Jersey, on topics bordering on strengthening democracy and elections.

The Former Nigerian President also noted that in 2009 the richest Nigerian was the 5th richest man in Africa, but he handed over a Nigeria that produced the richest man in Africa.

Jonathan also spoke about the 2015 general elections, the economy of Nigeria before and during his administration and the recent elections in Benin Republic.

According to Dr. Jonathan,

“Even in the 2015 general elections in my country, Nigeria, there was potential for major crisis if I was not a President duly elected by the will of the people.”

“The campaigns leading to the elections almost polarized the country into Christian v Muslims and North v South divide. Most World leaders were worried that our elections will result into major crisis. Some pundits even from here in the United States said that those elections would spell the end of Nigeria and that we would cease to exist as a nation because of the polls.”

Best prices of phones, accessories & gadgets on PricePadi.com

“That is where the leadership question comes into play. As a leader that was duly elected by the people, I considered the people’s interest first. How do I manage my people to avoid killings and destruction of properties? With the interest of the people propelling all the decisions I took, we were able to sail through.”

“Indeed, we sail through because I refused to interfere with the independence of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, having appointed a man I had never met in my life to run it. My philosophy was simple. For elections to be credible, I as a leader, must value the process more than the product of the process. And the citizens must have confidence in the electoral body.”

“This rule of the law of process ensured that Nigeria’s peace, prosperity and progress was not derailed by the conduct and results of the 2015 elections and I am proud to say that while I took over a Nigeria that was the second largest economy in Africa with a GDP of $270.5 billion in 2009, I handed over a Nigeria that had grown to become the largest economy in Africa and the 24th largest economy in the World with a GDP of $574 billion.”

“I inherited a Nigeria in which the trains were not working, and handed over a Nigeria in which citizens can safely travel by trains again. I inherited a Nigeria that was a net importer of cement, and handed over a Nigeria that is a net exporter of cement. In 2009 the richest Nigerian was the 5th richest man in Africa, but I handed over a Nigeria that produced the richest man in Africa.”

“These are but a few of the parameters that illustrate some of the economic transformations we engineered during my term in office. This was made possible by the fact that there was a stable political leadership in Nigeria that did not have to pander to any other constituency except the electorate who brought me to power. And these actions have a contagious effect.”

“Perhaps because of what we achieved in Nigeria, our next door neighbor, Benin Republic, last month replicated what President Mathieu Kerekou did in 1991, that is to organize and conduct free and fair elections that led to the victory of opposition candidate Patrice Talon.”

“Once again, I must commend my friend, the incumbent and outgoing President of Benin Republic, President Thomas Boni Yayi, for his statesmanlike conduct during and after the elections.”

collinsdans:

collinsdans: