Organ Harvesting: Ekweremadu Urges Court To Strike Out Ukpo’s Motion

The former deputy senate president, Ike Ekweremadu, and his wife, Beatrice, have urged the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja to dismiss an application filed by David Ukpo, the kidney donor, asking the court to set aside its orders for the alleged victim’s data to be released to Ekweremadu.

Ukpo has through his lawyer, Bamidele Igbinedion, filed a motion on notice, urging Justice Inyang Ekwo to set aside the orders made on July 1 and 6, directing some government agencies and banks in Nigeria to release his bio data to Ekweremadu and his wife.

Ukpo, who is currently in the United Kingdom (UK) in connection with the alleged organ harvesting charge against the Ekweremadus, had said that granting the couple’s request violated his fundamental rights to privacy guaranteed by Section 37 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).

But in a counter affidavit deposed to by Bright Ekweremadu, the immediate younger brother to the ex-Deputy Senate President, the applicants said Ukpo was not entitled to the reliefs sought as the law does not permit such.

The counter affidavit was dated and filed on September 8 by their Lawyer, Adegboyega Awomolo.

In a 20-point argument, Ekweremadu claims that though the court gave its ruling on July 1, Ukpo’s right to a fair hearing was not breached.

He said that the documents which were released by the agencies and banks upon the orders of the court had been transmitted to the UK and the same had been “tendered at the Uxbridge Magistrates’ Court, and at the Central Criminal Court in the UK and have subsequently formed part of the record of the courts.

“That I know as a fact that the documents which are already in evidence before those Honourable Courts in the United Kingdom cannot be retrieved by this court.

“That the courts in the United Kingdom had already seized the documents” and that he was in the last criminal proceeding where the documents were used.

He said the documents were required to prove the actual age of Ukpo, who claimed to be 15 years of age but believed to be well over 21 years of age

According to him, if the applicant (Ukpo) had not lied about his age he has nothing to fear and the document would hear him out.

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