By Onyeanya Ebere Immaculata
The father of David Nwamini Ukpo, the Nigerian youth trafficked to the United Kingdom by Senator Ike Ekweremadu for an illegal kidney transplant, has died, with the family attributing his death to heartbreak after years of no contact with his son.
Boniface Nwamini Ukpo, a son of the deceased, confirmed to reporters on Monday that his father died around 12 p.m. on Sunday.
“It’s so sad that since the incident happened in 2022, we have not spoken with my brother, David Nwamini,” he said. “My father has been sick over the saga, and yesterday he finally died.”
The family said they have not heard from David since he was taken to the UK in 2022 for the transplant procedure.
Senator Ekweremadu, his wife Beatrice, and their doctor, Obinna Obeta, were convicted in March 2023 by a London court for conspiring to traffic David from Lagos to the UK to harvest his kidney for the senator’s ailing daughter.
According to the UK’s Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), Ekweremadu was sentenced to nine years and eight months in prison, while his wife received four and a half years.
Dr. Obeta, described as the middleman in the plot, was jailed for 10 years.
The case was the first conviction for illegal organ harvesting under the UK’s Modern Slavery Act.
