The Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) has come out to say that Nwamini David Okpo, the man who was flown from Nigeria to the United Kingdom by former Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu and his wife, Beatrice, so he can donate his kidney to their ailing daughter is actually 21 and not 15 as widely reported.

The Comptroller General of NIS, Isa Jere, stated this in an ongoing engagement with editors.

Jere told the editors that Ukpo’s date of birth as captured by the NIS after thorough verification is “12-10-2000. It is the same record on NPC and letter of indigeniship by Ebonyi Government submitted by the applicant.”

Ekweremadu and his wife were arrested by The Metropolitan Police at the Heathrow Airports for alleged human trafficking and organ harvesting on Tuesday, June 21 and arraigned before the Uxbridge magistrate court on June 23. They were denied bail and ordered to be remanded in custody until July 7. 

The prosecutors had told the court that David had gone to the police to claim he was 15 years old and that he was being treated as a slave by the family. On the strength of his claim, Ekweremadu was accused of flying a minor to the UK to harvest his organ.