… Britain, interpol, may have been mistaken
Senator Ike Ekweremadu and his wife, Beatrice
Nigeria’s department of Immigration has defended its issuance of a valid Nigerian passport to Ukpo Nwamini David.
Nwamini who is enjoying the protection of the Metropolitan Police in the UK is at the centre of a burning controversy involving a serving Nigerian Senator and former Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu.
Also involved in the saga that has thrown him in a London jail is his wife, Beatrice.
Both were arraigned in court at Uxbridge and denied bail despite pleas.
While British authorities claim David is a 15-year-old, the Nigerian Immigration Service says he is 22.
Comptroller-General of Nigeria’s Immigration Service, Isah Jere Idris who spoke to journalists confirmed the age of the so-called youngster whose organs, the British insist, were to be harvested by Ekweremadu and his wife.
He insisted that Immigration officials had followed due process in issuing the international passport.
The Comptroller General disclosed that David personally applied for the passport.
“He visited the Gwagwalada office of Immigration in Abuja with his birth certificate issued by the National Population Commission, National Identification Number (NIN) and a letter of indigineship from the Ebonyi State Liason office confirming he is from the state”, the Immigration chief explained.
Defending the action of the department, Idris observed, “The Nigerian Immigration service relies on information and documentation from other government agencies like National Population Commission and the National Identification Management Commission.”
We cannot confirm at this time if the Immigration boss spoke on his own, or if he had the clearance of the Nigerian Government to disclose critical information pertaining to the matter.
Information emanating from Immigration sources show David was born on the 12th of October, 2000.
The disclosure from the Immigration authorities contradicts the claim by the British concerning the age of the young man as more facts relating to what could have been the tie between him and the Ekweremadus emerge.
The revelation that David actually approached the Immigration people for the passport with which he travelled out of the country is perhaps interesting.
It does not suggest the action of a minor as the British claim who was probably acting under compulsion.
While the impression that something dark and sinister may have formed part of the reason why David left the shores of Nigeria, according to the claim of the British police, the Immigration account somehow throws a little more light on what could have transpired in the days leading up to the UK trip.
David has however taken to Facebook to explain his side of the story.
He claims that he was approached by one Okoro who told him he could work in the UK.
He claimed that he later met with the Senator and ate the kind of meal no-one in his family has ever eaten.
David denied he gave any consent to the Ekweremadus, relating to any plan to harvest any his organs, and thanked one Dr Harry for calling in the police after bringing him into the picture of what was about to happen.
Ekweremadu has denied any wrong doing even as evidence that the British Embassy may have had an interface with the Senator over the matter prior to the trip comes to the surface.
Ekweremadu’s family may have escaped an assassination attempt at some point, but they face the greatest challenge of a life time.
Excitement of a family over the graduation of a daughter that has been replaced by accusations of organ harvesting.
It would seem that an attempt by a caring family to save one of their own has landed it in trouble with the British.
There have been reactions from several quarters, following what has turned out to be the travail of the Ekweremadus.
The matter will be heard on July 7 at Uxbridge. Until then, Ekweremadu and his wife would remain in custody, denied of rights accorded to decent citizens by UK standards in the wake of the allegation of organ harvesting levied against them.