- * What Ekweremadu Should Have Done Before Travelling With Kidney Donor....Ex-DG, NAPTIP
- Ekweremadu l Know Won't Indulge In Organ Harvest Crime, Says Senator Seriake Dickson
The Nigeria Immigration Service has launched an investigation in the authenticity of the passport obtained by David Nwamini Ukpo, who was alleged to have been trafficked to the United Kingdom for organ harvest by a former Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu and his wife, Beatrice Nwanneka.
The service, it was gathered, is probing allegations that the travel document may have been fraudulently procured, the Acting Comptroller-General of Immigration, Mr Idris Jere, confirmed the investigation to our correspondent on Saturday.
Ekweremadu, the senator representing Enugu West Senatorial District, was arrested by the UK Metropolitan Police on Thursday last week, with his wife, Nwanneka, for alleged conspiracy to harvest the organs of a said minor, a young male.
Ekweremadu and his wife allegedly facilitated David’s entry into the UK to transplant his kidney into their daughter, Silvia, who is suffering from kidney failure.
The couple was arraigned at the Uxbridge Magistrate Court in London on charges of conspiracy and organ harvest on Thursday.
The prosecutor disclosed that David is a 15-year-old boy, adding that he was not aware that he was in the UK to donate a kidney until he went for a hospital appointment with the Ekweremadus.
A trending picture of David’s passport, however, indicated that he was born on October 12, 2000. This means he is 21 years old.
The passport with number B00569974 was issued in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, on November 5, 2021 and would expire on November 4, 2026.
Responding to inquiries on the controversy surrounding David’s passport, the CG said the service was probing the passport and would soon come out with its findings.
“We are investigating the passport and the issues surrounding it. We will come out with our findings soon,” Jere stated.
However, a former Director-General of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), Julie Okah-Donli, has proffered advice on how the Ekweremadus should have handled the said kidney donation matter to avoid any illegality and scandal.
She stated that the former Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ike Ekweremadu and his wife, Beatrice Nwanneka Ekweremadu, should have first obtained a clearance certificate from the agency before travelling to the United Kingdom with a kidney donor.
Okah-Donli, who is also the Chairperson of the United Nations Voluntary Trust Fund for Victims of Trafficking in Persons (UNVTF), also revealed that most cases of organ harvesting in the country “are often treated as ritual murder by law enforcement agencies that lack the institutional capacity to handle such cases.”
She clarified during an interview on ARISE NEWS TV Channel, while also lamenting the rate at which body organs of Nigerians “are stolen in India and most countries in the Middle East when they go for procedures.”
The London Metropolitan Police had arrested Ekweremadu and his wife, Beatrice Nwanneka at Heathrow Airport in London, over an allegation of bringing a minor to the UK for organ harvesting.
The police had claimed that the investigation was launched after detectives were alerted to potential offences under the Modern Slavery Act, 2015 aimed at preventing hidden labour exploitation, payment for work-finding services and harvest of human organs, among others.
Consequent to this, Ekweremadu and his wife were arraigned before the Uxbridge Magistrates’ Court which denied them bail, ordered their detention and deferred the case till July 7 for a hearing.
Faulting Ekweremadu for not observing the laws regulating all forms of organ donation, Okah-Donli explained the basic requirements all citizens should fulfil under the Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Enforcement and Administration Act, 2015 before travelling out of the country with kidney donors.
She said: “In a case like this, there is a regulation in place. NAPTIP ought to have issued them a clearance certificate to travel out of the country. However, it looks like NAPTIP was not even aware of it. Under the legislation, NAPTIP has the right to issue a clearance certificate to any person who is going for anything relating to organ donation. Ekweremadu ought to have gone to NAPTIP to get a clearance certificate.”
During the process of issuing a clearance certificate, Okah-Donli explained that NAPTIP would have exhaustively interacted with the would-be donor before a clearance certificate would be issued to that effect. She added that if the case had been reported, NAPTIP would have been able to investigate the case further with “a view to finding out whether the donor is an adult or a minor, whether the donor understands the consequence of what he is going for or not.
“Unfortunately, all these things did not happen. The Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) will only issue passports based on the information they are given. They are not going to look for information that they are not given. If they say the boy in question is 50, the NIS will write 50 on the passport. But NAPTIP will have investigated in-depth, spoken to the donor and issued a clearance certificate before travelling out of the country. Unfortunately, the case was not brought to the attention of NAPTIP.”
The former NAPTIP boss, therefore, lamented that the case of organ harvesting “is really bad in Nigeria. It is huge across the federation but we have not paid attention to it. We have such cases in which people were found with their organs ripped out all over the federation.”
She added that the authorities were quick to tag it ritual murder, noting that organ harvesting “has been going on for so many years undetected.
“NAPTIP has the mandate to curb organ harvesting. Unfortunately, we have other law enforcement agencies that want to deal with it. But those agencies do not have the capacity to deal with it. They do not have the training.
“These issues are not even referred to NAPTIP for proper investigation. We have that bottleneck in this area not allowing the appropriate agency to deal with the issue of organ harvesting. This is a very specialised area. Rushing to the conclusion that it is ritual murder will not help.
“Even in countries like India, they actually steal your organs. You go there for a procedure. By the time you go back, they have removed another organ. Stealing organs is something that has been going on in the Middle East,” she explained.
Meanwhile, the Senator representing Bayelsa West in the National Assembly, Senator Henry Seriake Dickson, has expressed strong doubt that the Senator Ike Ekweremadu he knew would not engage in a crime as organ harvesting crime.
Dickson stated that the former Deputy Senate President would not traffic an underage child for the purpose of organ harvesting. He said that his thoughts and prayers are with the former Senate President and his wife, Beatrice, who are in police custody in the UK for alleged organ harvesting.
Dickson, a former governor of Bayelsa State said that he is optimistic that the British legal system would take care of the development as the circumstances surrounding this will fully come to light in the cause of the investigation.
He urged Nigerians to avoid passing hasty judgment against Ekweremadu and his wife as the whole saga represents a human tragedy involving a parent (father and mother) and their sick daughter.
"My family and I are wishing the former Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, the very best. Our thoughts and prayers are with him. People, especially Nigerians should not pass hasty judgments on him as the facts are still coming out. The British justice system will take care of it.
“I am sure from the beginning when this story broke, that the Ekweremadu I know could not have taken an under aged and under privileged young man and smuggle him out of the country to harvest organs for whatever purpose.
“As parents or even as human beings, we all can understand the emotions and the commitments shown by caring parents towards the recovery of their sick daughter. The circumstances surrounding this will fully come to light in the cause of the investigation.
“It is a very trying period for the family and for all who know him. I know him as a decent man who has done his best for our country, and humanity. It is unfortunate the situation he, his wife and his sick daughter have found themselves.
“All those who are commenting and passing judgment should know that at the end of it, it is human tragedy. It is the tragedy of a parent, father and mother are in this situation at a time their beloved daughter is also sick,” Senator Dickson said in a statement at the weekend. (sources: Sunday Punch, Thisday, Newsexpress). NNL.
