Alleged Organ Harvesting: David Nwamini asks court to reverse order on release of bio-data to Ekweremadu

An alleged victim of organ harvesting, David Nwamini, has urged the Federal High Court in Abuja to vacate its order for the release of his biometric information to Ike Ekweremadu.

Mr Ekweremadu, a former Deputy Senate President of Nigeria and his wife, Beatrice, were arrested in the United Kingdom in June for allegedly trying to harvest Mr Nwamini's kidney for their ailing daughter.

The London Metropolitan Police arrested the Ekweremadus based on its investigations that Mr Nwanini, whom the couple took to London for organ harvesting, was a minor.

PREMIUM TIMES reported that the prosecutors said the Ekweremadus were charged with bringing a 15-year-old boy from Nigeria to the UK with the claim that he was to be given a better life in the UK but was actually to harvest his organ.

But in July, a criminal court denied Mr Ekweremadu's bail application but released his wife.

The couple had insisted that Mr Nwanini was 21 years old and had called for his official records to prove their claim with the alleged victims' official records in the custody of the relevant Nigerian authorities, including the NIMC.

Acceding to their request, the Federal High Court in Abuja, on 1 July, ordered the relevant government agencies and commercial banks in Nigeria to release Mr Nwamini's biodata the embattled Ekweremadus.

Nwamini's suit

However, in the fresh application before the judge, Inyang Ekwo, Mr Nwamini challenged the proceedings of the court which ordered the release of his bio-data to the Ekweremadus.

He contended that the suit denied him a fair hearing and violated his right to personal privacy.

Mr Nwamini, through his lawyer, Bamidele Igbinedion, queried the absence of the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) in the case.

In a court filing, Mr Igbinedion prayed the court to reverse the order allowing the release of his client's bio-data to the Ekweremadus for their defence before Uxbridge Magistrate Court in London.

The applicant listed: the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), Comptroller General, Nigeria Immigration Service, Stanbic IBTC bank, United Bank for Africa (UBA) and Nigeria Inter-bank Settlement System.

Mr Nwamini is praying the court to restrain the defendants, their agents, privies, staff and workers from releasing any information pertaining to him to the Ekweremadus for the purposes of filing their defence at the British Court.

Background

PREMIUM TIMES reported that British prosecutors said the Ekweremadus were charged with bringing a 15-year-old boy from Nigeria to the UK with the claim that he was to be given a better life in the UK but was actually to harvest his organ

But the couple, who have been denied bail and face charges of organ trafficking in London, had insisted that Mr Nwanini was 21 years old.

In the suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/984/2022, the Ekweremadus had asked the court to direct the NIMC to avail them the Certified True Copy of Mr Nwamini's biodata information for the purposes of tendering same before the British Court in the pending criminal charge against them.

The suit followed the disclosure by immigration authorities in Nigeria that Mr Nwanini's records from the National Population Commission (NPC) and NIMC gave his date of birth as October 12, 2000, as against the alleged claims by the organ donor that he is a 15-year-old.

In the court documents, Mr Ekweremadu's lawyer, Adegboyega Awomolo, said Mr Nwanini was flown to the UK with his consent to be a kidney donor for their daughter.

But upon a medical examination of Mr Nwamini's kidneys, it was discovered that none was a match for the couple's daughter, the documents state.