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181 sacked workers floor NSCDC at Supreme Court

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BY: Oliseama Okwuchukwu

The Supreme Court has affirmed the decision of the Court of Appeal, Abuja that recalled 181 sacked personnel of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC).

Delivering judgment on Monday, the Acting Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Tanko Mahammad struck out the appeal filed by the corps challenging the decision of the lower court.

The acting CJN, who led four other justices, held that the apex court lacked that jurisdiction to entertain the matter.

He said that Section 248 (4) of the 1999 Constitution as amended placed all legal disputes which emanated from the National Industrial Court (NIC) to terminate at the court of appeal.

Mahammad further said that that apex court was therefore not vested with the jurisdiction to entertain such appeals.

“In the circumstance, the appellant applicant has reached its limit and the appeal is therefore struck out.

“The matter has come to its finality’’, he said.

The lost appeal was filed by NSCDC against the judgment by the National Industrial Court (NIC), reinstating 182 of its personnel who were wrongly dismissed.

NIC had, in a judgment on March 19, 2015, ordered the NSCDC to reinstate the sacked staff with their full emoluments from the time they were illegally dismissed.

The trial court also ordered NSCDC to return the employment letters to the affected personnel and pay all arrears of their salaries amounting to about N1.2 billion.

The court restrained the NSCDC from further tampering with the employment of the affected personnel.

Dissatisfied with the judgment, the NSCDC, and Immigration and Prisons Service Board (who were respondents at the NIC) appealed the judgment, but failed to diligently prosecute it.

A three-man panel of the Court of Appeal, led by Justice Moore Adumein, in a ruling, on July 18, 2016, upheld the respondents’ request and dismissed the appeal for lack of diligent prosecution.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that Obono Musa and 180 others had sued the then Commandant-General, NSCDC, alleging unlawful termination of their employments.

They prayed the court to declare that the verbal and oral suspension of the claimants by the NSCDC was null, void and of no effect.

The claimants also sought an order directing the defendants to recall all the claimants to work and to also release the original copies of their letters of employment to them.

They also asked for an order of the court directing the defendants to immediately pay them all arrears of salaries from 2007 till date.

Speaking to newsmen after the court session, Mr Ibrahim Bawa, Counsel to the respondents expressed delight on the outcome of the case, adding that his clients had been exposed to hardship since 2007 when they were unlawfully sacked.

He therefore urged President Muhammadu Buhari to impress it on the Commandant-General of the corps to without delay effect the decision of the apex court.

Bawa also said that the president might contemplate investigating the untidy manner the establishment was managed.

NAN further reports that the 181 personnel of the corps were seen dancing and thanking God for their legal victory in the premises of the court. (NAN)

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The Peruvian Government Has Officially Classified Transgender, Nonbinary And Intersex People As “Mentally ill”

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According to the country’s ministry of health, the controversial decision was made to ensure the country’s public health services could “guarantee full coverage of medical attention for mental health” for the trans community.

It also categorises “dual-role transvestitism,” “fetishistic transvestism,” and “other gender identity disorders” under the same bracket of mental illness.

The new law will change language in the Essential Health Insurance Plan (PEAS) to reflect the view of trans and intersex people as a mental health disorder.

Trans groups across Peru have loudly condemned the decision as a step backwards for the country’s already complex relationship with LGBTQ+ rights.

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Math Teacher Accused Of Having Sex With 2 Students And Getting Pregnant For One Tearfully Reveals The Baby Was Taken Away From Her

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The UK teacher who had a baby with an underage student while on trial for having sex with another teenage boy broke down in court after revealing her newborn baby girl had been “taken away” from her.

Manchester math teacher Rebecca Joynes, 30, sobbed to jurors over how her baby was taken “24 hours after being born” this past January — and now she only sees her for nine hours a week, Joynes told jurors on Monday, May 13, according to the Manchester Evening News.

“At the moment I have contact with her three times a week for three hours and that’s it,” she said through tears.

Joynes was arrested and released on bail on orders not to have unsupervised contact with anyone under 18 after allegedly grooming her pupil, known as Boy A in court, by buying him a $430 Gucci belt before bringing him to her apartment for unprotected sex.

She was suspended from school and eventually fired, but soon after, she began having a relationship with a 15-year-old boy, known in court as Boy B, whom she had a baby with in January.

Joynes, who has denied having sex with either boy when they were underage, told the court that when she learned of the allegations against her she had gone to the second boy in a “panic” and he deleted all of her phone’s content.

The former teacher denied having a sexual relationship with the second boy until after he turned 16 and she was already suspended from teaching.

According to her narration,

She said he had added her on Snapchat twice, which she only accepted the second time because she thought he “wanted to tell her something.”

Joynes said a friendship developed and he quickly became her “best friend” even though the boy would make flirtatious and sexualized comments toward her when he was drunk.

She told jurors that it wasn’t until after his 16th birthday that he messaged her saying “I’ve left school now” with a winky face.

After she received notice that she had been dismissed from her job, he went to her apartment, where following an emotional conversation, they had sex.

The two then entered a relationship that Joynes described as “quite toxic” telling the court how the teenager was “very controlling.”

After discovering she was pregnant, Joynes hid love notes for the boy to find around her apartment.

The notes eventually led to a piece of baby clothing that had the words “I love my daddy to the moon and back” written on it.

The court was told that she gave birth to their baby girl in January, but following an emergency court hearing, the newborn was taken away from Joynes.

Joynes has denied two counts of sexual activity with Boy A; two counts of sexual activity with Boy B; and two counts of sexual activity with Boy B while being a person in a position of trust.

Her trial is ongoing.

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First Man To Receive Pig Kidney Transplant Has Died

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The first Man to receive a genetically modified pig kidney transplant has died two months after the operation.

Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), which carried out the procedure in March, announced Sunday, May 12, that Richard “Rick” Slayman, 62, has died.

They said there was no indication his death was a result of the transplant.

Transplants of other organs from genetically modified pigs have failed in the past, but the operation on Mr Slayman, who was suffering with end-stage kidney disease, was hailed as a historic milestone.

In addition to kidney disease, Mr Slayman also suffered from Type 2 diabetes and hypertension.

In 2018, he had a human kidney transplant, but it began to fail after five years.

Following his pig kidney transplant on March 16, his doctors confirmed he no longer needed dialysis after the new organ was said to be functioning well.

“Mr Slayman will forever be seen as a beacon of hope to countless transplant patients worldwide and we are deeply grateful for his trust and willingness to advance the field of xenotransplantation,” MGH said in a statement.

Xenotransplantation is the transplanting of living cells, tissues or organs from one species to another.

MGH said it was “deeply saddened” at his sudden death and offered condolences to his family.

Mr Slayman’s relatives said his story was an inspiration.

“Rick said that one of the reasons he underwent this procedure was to provide hope for the thousands of people who need a transplant to survive,” they said.

“Rick accomplished that goal and his hope and optimism will endure forever.

“To us, Rick was a kind-hearted man with a quick-witted sense of humour who was fiercely dedicated to his family, friends, and co-workers,” they added.

While Mr Slayman received the first pig kidney to be transplanted into a human, it is not the first pig organ to be used in a transplant procedure.

Two other patients have received pig heart transplants, but those procedures were unsuccessful as the recipients died a few weeks later.

In one case, there were signs the patient’s immune system had rejected the organ, which is a common risk in transplants.

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