The Nigerian Immigration Service has denied reports that the passport issued to David Nwamina was fraudulently procured.
David was alleged to have been trafficked to the United Kingdom for organ harvest by a former Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, and his wife, Beatrice.
The couple was arraigned at the Uxbridge Magistrate Court in London on charges of conspiracy and organ harvest on Thursday.
The prosecutor had claimed David, a 15-year-old boy, was unaware that he was in the UK to donate a kidney until he went for a hospital appointment with the Ekweremadus.
But pictures of his passport online indicated that David is 21 years old, fueling speculations that the passport might have been illegally procured.
However, a statement on Sunday by the acting Comptroller-General of Immigration, Idris Jere, claimed that the Service followed due process before issuing David his passport.
The statement partly read, “The Service wishes to set the record straight by informing the general public that the views being expressed that the service did not properly vet the breeder documents issued by the applicant during his passport application process are not correct, but mere fabrications aimed at tarnishing the image of the Service.
“The facts of the matter concerning the case above, therefore, are that the said Mr David Ukpo Nwamina applied and paid for the Enhanced e-passport using the NIS portal after which he approached the Gwagwalada Passport Office, FCT Abuja, on November 2, 2021
for his interview.”
Jere said David provided the needed documents and was duly assessed by the service.
He said, “To support his application, Mr Nwamina presented all the necessary documents required, including his birth certificate issued by National Population Commission, showing October 12, 2000, as his date of birth; his National Identity Number, issued by NIMC corroborating the date of birth; a certificate of origin issued by Ebonyi State Government Liaison Office Abuja, and a Guarantor’s form duly signed.
“In view of the above, the general public may wish to be informed that the date of birth, or any other information, on any Nigerian passport is printed on the document only after a thorough vetting process that involves both the applicant’s breeder documents and the person. Mr Nwamina’s case, therefore, was not an exception.”
Jere, however, said the Service was committed to protecting the integrity of the Nigerian passport.