The brother of David Nwamini, the young man who was smuggled to the United Kingdom by former Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, says he “was deceived and carried away.”
David’s brother whose identity was not revealed told BBC File on 4 that since the young Nigerian who was taken to the UK without his consent “disappeared suddenly”, he had not spoken with him.
He said their father had been grieving over the matter, and that has made him sick.
On May 5, 2023, a UK court sentenced Ekweremadu to nine years and eight months in prison for organ trafficking.
The court also sentenced Ekweremadu’s wife, Beatrice, to four years and six months in prison while a doctor who allegedly colluded with them, Obinna Obeta, was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Their offence was the alleged procurement of a 21-year-old street trader, David, and flying him to the UK with the aim to harvest his kidney for their ailing daughter, Sonia.
Sonia has a serious form of kidney disease. She needs a transplant and has been on dialysis for five hours a day, three or four times a week.
BBC met David’s brother in the ever-busy Lagos market where the alleged victim used to sell mobile phone accessories.
He told BBC File on 4 that he only found out about his brother when news of the trial was reported.
“Last year he left. He left by February. Nobody saw him. He disappeared,” the brother said.
“We have been crying every day and my father has grieved so much he’s become very sick.”
“David was deceived and carried away,” he added.
David’s landlord, who he spoke to every day before he vanished, disagreed that he would not have consented to sell his kidney.
“Because he knows there are other ways to make money. Even for £1m wouldn’t have done it,” the landlord said.
