In a heartbreaking turn of events, the father of David Nwamini has died after years of illness and anguish over his son’s involvement in the Ekweremadu organ harvesting scandal.
The elderly man passed away on Sunday afternoon, having spent the last two years separated from his son David, who became the key figure in the shocking case that rocked Nigeria’s political establishment.
Family members say he had been battling both physical illness and the emotional toll of not knowing when—or if—he would ever see his son again.
David’s brother, Boniface Nwamini Ukpo, broke the sad news on Monday, his voice heavy with grief. “Yes, my father died yesterday,” he told reporters.
“What makes this even more painful is that since everything happened in 2022, we haven’t been able to speak with my brother David. My father was sick with worry about this whole situation, and now he’s gone.”
The family’s ordeal stems from the explosive 2022 case that exposed an international organ trafficking scheme.
A London court discovered that former Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu, along with his wife Beatrice and Nigerian doctor Obinna Obeta, had orchestrated a plan to bring young David from Lagos to the UK.
Their intention was to harvest his kidney for a transplant to save the senator’s seriously ill daughter.
The case made history when, in May 2023, it became the UK’s first-ever conviction for illegal organ harvesting.
The sentences handed down were severe: Ekweremadu received nearly ten years in prison, his wife got four and a half years, while Dr. Obeta—who prosecutors said was the key middleman in the scheme—was sentenced to ten years behind bars.
