Alleged organ trafficking: Victim resides in Lagos with elder brother - Source

Efe Onodjae 

A businessman and laptop engineer, Oyekan Tobi, has revealed that David Ukpo Nwanmini who was taken to the United Kingdom for organ harvesting by the former deputy senate president, Ike Ekweremadu, and his wife is not a 15-year-old boy.

Tobi, who is also a postgraduate student of the Nigeria Institute of Journalism, Ogba Lagos, spoke to a Vanguard correspondent after the passport of the allegedly 15years boy surfaced online.

According to him, the boy on the passport with the name David is from Ebonyi state and assists his elder brother, Linus (also known as) Mile 2 in the market with customers.

“His elder brother deals in phone accessories, it is false to say the boy is 15 years old because a boy of 15 years won’t have that energy to be dragging customers in the market with other boys. He's not a boy you can slap on the way and walk away easily. Hence, he should be in his 20s,” he said. 

When asked when last he saw David in the Ikotun market of Lagos state, Tobi said it has been a while since they stopped seeing him among his two brothers in the market. 

According to him, they sell phone accessories with wheelbarrows along with with the Ikotun market. Their elder brother, Linus was once involved in the selling of accessories with wheelbarrows and after a while, he stopped and upgraded to using a shop to sell these accessories. He then brought his three brothers, of which David is one of them to take over the wheelbarrow business of selling phone accessories, he said. 

On Thursday, the Metropolitan police announced that Ekweremadu and his wife were charged to court over the allegation of bringing a child with the name David Ukpo Nwanmini to the UK for organ harvesting.

The police added that the investigation was launched after detectives were alerted to potential offenses under modern slavery legislation in May 2022.

Mr. Ekweremadu, who was recently made a visiting professor at the University of Lincoln, served three terms as deputypresident of the Senate, from 2007 to 2019. A member of the opposition People's Democratic Party (PDP), he has been a senator since 2003.

An investigation by the Metropolitan Police's Specialist Crime Team took place after detectives were alerted to potential modern-day slavery offenses. Organ harvesting involves removing parts of the body, often for commercial gain and against the will of the victim.

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