Abuja

  Abubakar Marshal, lawyer to social media activist VeryDarkMan, has alleged that a young man whose left kidney was unlawfully removed in Abuja received about N1.5 million following the procedure. Marshal made the allegation during a televised interview monitored by Vanguard, claiming that the young man was given about $1,300, which he said was equivalent to approximately N1.5 million at the time. According to him, the case came to the attention of the Martins Vincent Center initiative, MRI, headed by VeryDarkMan, after the young man approached the organisation alleging that his left kidney had been removed. He said the organisation initially expressed doubts about the claim and asked the young man to obtain medical evidence. Marshal said: “The young man came back with a medical report that showed the absence of his left kidney. We were curious ourselves, so we decided to verify the medical document he brought. “We went to two separate hospitals in Abuja, a reputable private hospital and another government hospital, which is the Federal Medical Centre in Jabi, Abuja, where it was confirmed that indeed, the young man’s left kidney had been removed.” The lawyer alleged that after the kidney was harvested, the young man was given about $1,300 “just to take this and shut up.” He further alleged that the young man’s identity was changed through an affidavit in which he was given a different name, allegedly to conceal the transaction. According to Marshal, the young man subsequently developed complications about a month after the alleged procedure, including pus reportedly coming from the area around his left side. The lawyer alleged that the case was part of a wider pattern of illegal organ harvesting involving vulnerable youths in parts of the FCT. He claimed that several young men around the Karu, Nyanya and Mararaba axis had either come forward or were being identified in connection with similar allegations. “Most of those boys around Karu, Nyanya, Mararaba axis, a lot of them are engaged in this unlawful (practice). Some of those hospitals lure these young men into harvesting their organs illegally, without complying with the legal process,” he alleged. Marshal described the alleged practice as exploitation of poverty, claiming that some medical facilities used agents to approach young men who were in financial difficulty and lure them into organ donation. He further alleged that while some of the young men were paid relatively small amounts, kidneys were allegedly sold to recipients for millions of naira. “Some of these donees, which these hospitals sold some of these kidneys to, pay as high as N50 million to N70 million,” he claimed. The lawyer stressed that organ transplantation itself was not illegal in Nigeria, but argued that the alleged circumstances surrounding the cases amounted to criminal conduct where there was no informed consent, financial inducement or compliance with relevant legal procedures. “For the donation of an organ to be lawful, there must be informed consent of an adult person. There must also be no form of financial inducement,” he said. He cited the National Health Act and the Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Enforcement and Administration Act as part of the legal framework applicable to organ donation and transplantation. Marshal also said the affected youths’ parents were not involved in the alleged procedures. “No family member of this young man was involved. None of their parents were involved. It was after the entire thing turned around and became an issue that their parents got involved and their parents got to know,” he said. He called for legal action against medical facilities and practitioners allegedly involved in unlawful organ harvesting, saying the alleged activities must be stopped in the FCT. It could not be independently verify the allegations, and the lawyer did not identify the specific hospitals and medical practitioners allegedly involved.