In a motion on notice he just filed through his lawyer, Bamidele Igbinedion, David Ukpo prayed Justice Inyang Eden Ekwo to reverse the order permitting the release of his bio-data to Ekweremadu and his wife for their defense before Uxbridge Magistrate Court in London.
By Emma Ogbuehi
David Ukpo, the alleged victim of the alleged organ harvesting scandal involving Senator Ike Ekweremadu and his wife, Beatrice, has urged a Federal High Court in Abuja to reverse its July 1 order for the release of his bio-data for use in a London court in Ekweremadu’s trial.
Ahead of their July 7 appearance in the UK court, Ekweremadu and his wife, Beatrice, had asked the Federal High Court in Abuja to compel the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) and others to provide information about the man they claimed volunteered to donate a kidney to their ailing daughter.
The Metropolitan Police claimed that Ekweremadu and his wife, Beatrice, attempted to harvest the kidney of a ’15-year-old boy,’ for which they are standing trial.
The request was among the reliefs in a suit they filed through their lawyer, Adegboyega Awomolo (SAN).
Listed with NIMC as respondents in the suit are the Comptroller General (CG) of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Stanbic-IBTC Bank, United Bank of Africa (UBA) and Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System Plc.
They stated, among the grounds, that the information/documents required from the respondents were needed for their defence in the case filed against them in a United Kingdom (UK) court.
In the suit, Ekweremadu and his wife prayed the court to order the NIMC to supply them with the Certified True Copy (CTC) of Ukpo’s biodata.
They stated that Ukpo’s National Identification Number (NIN): 19438077110, which is in the possession of the agency, should be produced for the purpose of facilitating the criminal investigation and tendering same to establish their innocence regarding Ukpo’s age in the criminal charges against them before the Uxbridge Magistrates’ Court, among others.
On July 1, the Federal High Court in Abuja ordered the NIS, NIMC and some banks to release the biodata information of David Ukpo to Ekweremadu and his wife Beatrice.
But almost two months after, David Ukpo, while querying the proceedings leading to the issuance of the order, claimed that his fundamental rights to fair hearing and personal privacy had been grossly breached.
His grouse was that neither he nor the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), as Chief Law Officer of the Federation, was made a party in the suit.
In a motion on notice he just filed through his lawyer, Bamidele Igbinedion, David Ukpo prayed Justice Inyang Eden Ekwo to reverse the order permitting the release of his bio-data to Ekweremadu and his wife for their defense before Uxbridge Magistrate Court in London.
Defendants in the motion bothering on the alleged breach of fundamental rights are National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), Comptroller General, Nigeria Immigration Service, Stanbic IBTC Bank, United Bank for Africa (UBA) and Nigeria Inter-bank Settlement System.
The applicant is praying the court to restrain the defendants, their agents, privies, staff, and workers from releasing any information concerning him to Ekweremadu and his wife for their defense in the London court.