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You Must Produce Nnamdi Kanu on June 26, Court orders Abaribe, others

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All is not auguring well for Sen. Enyinaya Abaribe (PDP, Abia) and two others, as the Federal High Court, Abuja, on Wednesday,adjourned until June 26 ordering them to produce leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) Nnamdi Kanu in court.

Abaribe, Immanuel El-Shalom, a Jewish Chief High Priest, and Tochukwu Uchendu, a Chartered Accountant, who stood surety for Kanu are to produce him in court or risk jail.

The trial judge, Justice Binta Nyako, fixed the date after the court had ordered the prosecution to serve the sureties with an earlier order of court.

The order demanded the sureties to appear in court and explain the whereabouts of Kanu or show cause why they should not forfeit their N100 million bail bond.

At the resumed hearing, counsel to the sureties observed that the court order had not been served to his clients to enable them to prepare their defence.

Mr Chukwuma Umeh (SAN), counsel to Abaribe whose submissions were adopted by the others urged the court to direct that an enroll order be issued and served on his client by the prosecution.

He said this was in the spirit of fair hearing as enshrined in Section 36 of the 1999 Constitution.

He added: “I apply that the proper thing be done, that is for a summon to be issued and served on the sureties for them to show cause why their bail bond should not be forfeited.

“The prosecution ought to have taken further steps to obtain an enroll order and serve on them.

“This is because a court order that is not served cannot be used against the sureties as it is not binding on them until it is served.”

The prosecuting counsel, Mr Shuaibu Labaran, prayed the court to discountenance the submissions and proceed with the business of the day.

He said the business of the day was for the sureties to show cause why they should not forfeit their bail bond.

In a brief ruling however, Justice Nyako ordered that the sureties be served with an enroll order of the court to show cause why their bail bonds should not be forfeited.

Part of the ruling was that in the alternative, the sureties should produce Kanu in court or go to prison.

The prosecution had in an application asked the court to order the three sureties to produce Kanu following his failure to appear in court after he was granted bail.

Kanu is facing a four-count amended charge preferred against him and four others, whose trial had since been separated from his.

Justice Nyako had in a ruling on April 25, 2017, admitted Kanu to bail after he spent over one year in detention.

Abaribe and the two others entered an undertaken to produce Kanu before the court to face his trial by standing as sureties for him.

Kanu had since then not attended the trial and his counsel, Mr Ifeanyi Ejiofor, insisted that

the whereabouts of the proscribed IPOB leader remained unknown after the military attacked his home town in Abia in 2017. (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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