Court Rules In Favour Of Ekweremadu, Asks NIMC, Others To Release Ukpo’s Biodata

In a case file where the Nigeria Immigration Service and the National Identity Management Commission were named as respondents, an Abuja-based Federal High Court on Friday found in favor of the troubled former Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, and his wife, Beatrice.

Remember that Senator Ekweremadu and his wife were recently detained and arrested in the United Kingdom for allegedly conspiring to smuggle a kid to the country for the purpose of organ harvesting.

The pair was said to have taken David Ukpo Nwamini to the UK so they could remove his organs. Since the London Metropolitan Police’s arrest of Ekweremadu, several controversies have arisen.

The pair was then charged at Uxbridge Magistrate Court, which ruled that they should remain in detention until July 7 while the charges against them are being looked into.

The NIS claimed it granted an international passport indicating Nwamini’s age as 21 after following the proper procedures, despite the Met police reporting that he was 15.

Ekweremadu and his wife filed a lawsuit against NIMC and four other parties on June 27 through the assistance of their attorney and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Adegboyega Awomolo.

Awomolo addressed the court in Abuja to request an order requiring the NIMC to submit the Certified True Copy of the details of David Ukpo Nwamini in defense of his clients from the accusations.

The SAN prayed the court that Nwamini’s National Identification Number (NIN), which is in the possession of the NIMC, should be produced for the purpose of facilitating the criminal investigation and tendering same to establish his client’s innocence.

He also asked that the Comptroller General of NIS be directed to provide his clients with the documents and application form which Nwamini presented to obtain his international passport, for the purpose of assisting the criminal investigation and tendering same before the Uxbridge Magistrate Court in the UK.

The SAN had also prayed the court for an order directing Stanbic IBTC Bank and UBA to provide the Certified True Copy of Nwamini’s mandate card and opening account package in their custody.

Others mentioned in the suit are the Comptroller General (C-G), Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS); Stanbic-IBTC Bank; United Bank of Africa (UBA) and Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System Plc as 2nd to 5th respondents respectively.

Hearing the case on Friday, Justice Inyang Ekwo ruled that the NIMC and two commercial banks involved in the matter to release Nwamini’s details in their possession to the couple.