the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS), on Sunday, confirmed the age of the alleged organ harvesting victim, David Nwamini, as 21; contradicting the claims of prosecutors in London.
Isah Idris, the comptroller general of the NIS, in a Zoom briefing with reporters, said that Mr. Nwanini applied for his international passport which was issued after extensive checks by the passport-issuing agency.
It said documents provided by Mr. Nwamini from the National Population Commission (NPC) and the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) give his date of birth as October 12, 2000.
It added that Mr. Nwanini was seized for the international passport on November 2, 2021 at the agency’s Gwagwalada office.
London Metropolitan Police on Thursday charged former Senate Vice President Ike Ekweremadu and his wife Beatrice Ekweremadu with allegedly trafficking Mr Nwanini with the aim of removing his kidney.
On the same day, Uxbridge Magistrate’s Court in London denied the couple bail.
PREMIUM TIMES reported that prosecutors said the Ekweremadus were being charged with bringing a 15-year-old boy from Nigeria to the UK with the claim that he was going to have a better life in the UK, but in reality it was to extract him. the organ.
Prosecutors reportedly told the court that Mr. Ekweremadu got a passport for the boy and claimed that he was 21 years old, but prosecutors found that he was 15 years old.
Images of Mr. Nwamini’s international passport later surfaced on social media indicating that he was 21 years old, contrary to what London prosecutors presented in court.
The Ekweremadus are believed to have facilitated Mr. Nwamini’s journey after he agreed to donate a kidney to his sick daughter.
However, upon arriving in the UK, the young man is believed to have told police that he is a minor and not 21 as stated on his passport.
According to Idris, neither the Metropolitan Police who charged the senator in court nor the senator himself have contacted the NIS since the case became public.
Some lawyers have also argued that it is illegal for someone to be hired to donate an organ in the UK, even if the person is an adult.
The trial of the Ekweremadus continues on July 7 in the UK.
Chiamaka Okafor is a reporter for Premium Times in collaboration with report to the worldthat unites local newsrooms with talented emerging journalists to report on hidden topics around the world.