By Mohammed Mohammed
Following the raging controversy which has trailed Senator Ike Ekweremadu and his wife, over his alleged intent to harvest Mr. David Ukpo Nwamina’s kidney for his daughter’s kidney transplant in the United Kingdom, with inappropriate passport, the Comptroller General (CG) of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Mr. Isah Jere Idris, has admitted that the Service followed due process in the issuance of Visa to Nwamina to travel to the UK.
In a signed statement made available to the media, the NIS boss, said: “The attention of the Service has been drawn to the trending issue in connection with an alleged case of age falsification on a Nigerian Standard Passport issued by Nigeria Immigration Service to a Nigerian who is alleged to be at the centre of an investigation of the case of “organ harvesting”.
Idris, debunked the insinuation that 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.
He said: “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, Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja, on the 2nd November, 2021 for his interview.
“To support his application, Nwamina, presented all the necessary documents required, including his birth certificate issued by National Population Commission (NPC), showing 12 October, 2000, as his date of birth; his National Identity Number (NIN), 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. Nwamina’s case, therefore, was not an exception.”