By Tony Adibe & Magnus Aluma
The family of David Nwamini, the young man who was trafficked from Lagos to the United Kingdom (UK) for kidney harvesting by a powerful Nigerian politician, Senator Ike Ekweremadu and his wife, Beatrice, has expressed the desire to have their son return to them in Nigeria.
Their reason is that they want to see him one-on-one, feel him, hear from him and be certain that he is alive and complete without anything missing in him. One of David’s brothers, Livinus Nwamini, who introduced himself as the mouthpiece of the family disclosed this in a telephone chat with Newsbits. This is coming almost three weeks after the conviction and sentencing of Senator Ekweremadu, 60, his wife, Beatrice 56, and the link man, Dr Obinna Obeta, 50, who were found guilty in the UK’s Old Bailey Court of conspiring and importing a young man from Lagos to Britain for organ harvesting.
Recall that at the sentencing on Friday May 5, Senator Ekweremadu was jailed for nine years and eight months, his wife Beatrice was sentenced to four years and six months in jail while the middleman, Dr Obeta got a ten-year prison term. They were found guilty of trafficking a street trader from Lagos to Britain to illegally harvest his kidney for a transplant for Ekweremadu’s critically sick daughter, Sonia.
But how does the Nwamini’s family feel about the conviction and jailing of the three prominent Nigerians by the UK court for kidney harvesting? At least nobody has heard of any comment from the victim’s family concerning the UK court verdict. However, Livinus, the spokesman of the Nwaminis replied: “That question needs to be thought about before giving an answer,” and quickly added: “The family of Ekweremadu is supposed to answer that question.”
Reminded that he was quite frank and cooperative when he was contacted last time for a chat on the issue of David his brother and the Ekweremadus, Livinus admitted, although he noted:” I’m the mouthpiece of our people. I’m but…for now that question. I don’t think I can answer it alone because I don’t know where you are coming from. I don’t know the authority you are speaking with.”
Livinus believes the Nwaminis should be more interested in finding out whether their son, David is still alive and well in the “Whiteman’s country” rather than commenting on the jailing of the influential and prominent politician, his wife and Dr. Obeta.
He said: “I understand you. But for now, you know, you don’t trust anybody in Nigeria these days. I don’t trust anybody. I can’t say I want, or I don’t want David to come back but you know as Nigeria be. Before you do anything, you have to think twice and know where it is coming from and how to follow it.”
Does Livinus know whether David has plans of returning home or to continue to remain in the UK now the court case is over, and in David’s favour, too? Livinus , who said he is based in Abakaliki where he is trading , replied: “We want our child back, yes. We want to hear from him, and we want to see him and to confirm that he is alive and still complete. That is the only thing I can say for now. Thank you.”
