The father of Ukpo Nwamini David, the young man at the center of the high-profile UK organ harvesting case involving former Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu, has passed away.
Family sources said he died on Sunday afternoon around 12 p.m., reportedly after years of illness and heartbreak over being unable to see his son since 2022.
Speaking to GIST9JA on Monday morning, his son Boniface Nwamini Ukpo confirmed the death, stating:
“Yes, my father died yesterday. It’s so sad that since the incident happened in 2022, we have not spoken with my brother, David Nwamini. My father has been sick over the saga, and yesterday he finally died.”
The case dates back to 2022, when a London court found Senator Ike Ekweremadu, his wife Beatrice, and Nigerian doctor Obinna Obeta guilty of conspiring to arrange David’s travel from Lagos to the UK to illegally harvest his kidney for a transplant for the senator’s ailing daughter.
In May 2023, the UK’s Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) announced that Ekweremadu was sentenced to nine years and eight months in prison — the first conviction in the UK for illegal organ harvesting. His wife received four years and six months, while Obeta, described as the middleman, was jailed for 10 years.
