The organ harvesting controversy between Senator Ike Ekweremadu and David Ukpo that led to the arrest and remand of the former Deputy Senate President by the UK authority is the fallout of a display of egotism by Ekweremadu in his deal with David. The upsetting ordeal about the trending scandal which the former Senator is currently going through lays truth to the popular saying that “Pride goes before a fall”: Ikweremadu’s travail was avoidable if he had humbled himself before the poor David.

To revisit the subject of the matter, his lovely daughter, Sonia, has been in an ailing health condition attributed to kidney damage and required a kidney transplant while Ekweremadu has been taking an all-out effort to save her life. Wao! This is unbridled parental support and cares that I salute Ekweremadu’s responsibly parental love for Sonia. In his frantic effort to get a kidney donor for Sonia, the serving senator came across David who, according to Ekweremadu, agreed to donate one of his Kidneys to Sonia but later denied his consent to the arrangement after stepping on UK soil where the surgery was to be done. My heart bleeds for the narration on Ekweremadu’s part, and my utmost sympathy goes to the ailing lady and her distressed family.

Surely, for it to have soiled his name and reputation in a debasing crime, Ekweremadu’s show of parental love for his ailing daughter is absolutely undeniable. Still, I pick holes in his defense against the allegation of organ harvesting charged against him and his wife, Beatrice, by the UK authority. At the same time, I fault the haughtily ungracious manner with which the learned lawyer and experienced lawmaker approach his negotiation with the poor David. According to the statement given by David, one man named Okoro met him at a construction site and discussed how he could connect him to a senator that would help him leave Nigeria for a better life in the UK. According to him, the said Okoro later connected him to another man who was a contact (and probably an aide) to Ekweremadu, and fast-forward, his visa processing began and finally landed him in the UK.

For David not to disclose what he offered in consideration of the said promised job and better life shows his statements to be nothing other than half-truths. That a rich man in Nigeria would covertly send out his aides to go round the street to fetch him the less privileged whom the rich man is desirous of sending abroad for a promising life with no benefit to the rich man is a narration hard to believe in Nigeria. Not for me, I can never subscribe to such a concocted lie in Davis’s story! David, for sure, knew about his organ detachment mission but changed his mind after he landed on UK soil. This, he must have done for a reason that is still under speculation.

Notwithstanding David’s alleged betrayal, one consideration that relieves him of all blames is the unhandsome approach by Ekweremadu who distanced himself from the negotiation and handled the bargain through a proxy. The politician’s tread in such an arrogant manner and for a serious contract of that nature clearly portrays Ekweremadu as a mammon who believes that his money has solutions to any problem. To him, his monetary compensation to David for his kidney removal means a huge favor to the helpless young man. Ekweremadu took David for a fool and considered his cleverly proxied and insecure undocumented promise of monetary reward to be far enough to compensate a kidney donor for a deadly risk taken to live the rest of his life as a half-kidney-packaged man.

Given the in-between-life-and-death state of Sonia and the magnitude of risk that the poor David will take to sacrifice one of his kidneys for Sonia to live, Ekweremadu did not deem it fit to embrace David and give him a cuddle-like treatment for his rare sacrifice but ungraciously chose to undervalue the widow-mite offering of a kidney by the poor young man. He failed to relate humbly with David and did not negotiate personally with him but also kept his family out of the knowledge of the deal—perhaps, for the reason of their poor status. For the critical condition of Sonia’s health, Ekweremadu still never perceive nor treated David as a helper but considered him as a mere hungry man who was coming only to collect from his wallet. It was such an egoistic attitude from him that backfired and landed him in his present travail.

While we sympathize with Sonia, crucify David for his deadly betrayal and applaud Ekweremadu’s unrelenting effort to save the life of his dying daughter, we need also to call out Ekweremadu for his uncaring attitude for the life of a poor man who must take a deadly risk to have one of his kidneys cut away and given to Sonia for her to live. The negotiation of the transaction through a proxy presents Ekweremadu as a man of self-love who is self-servingly only fixated on the recovery of his kidney-damaged daughter with little thought for what becomes the life of his daughter’s kidney donor. If David were a son of the Obi of Onitsha or other influential echelons and agreed, out of sympathy, to donate a kidney to Sonia, would Ekweremadu have flown him abroad for his organ removal without the knowledge and consent of the parent? I don’t think so! He would have visited the personality involved in a long convoy—as a show of appreciation.

So for Ekweremadu to have cunningly packaged David (someone’s son) and smuggled him abroad to have his kidney removed without the knowledge of his consent known to or witnessed by any of his parents. Besides, for Ekweremadu to have executed the deal in a canny manner using a proxy speaks volumes about the Lawmaker’s sincerity to David for the kidney donation arrangement. This canny act by Ekweremadu singularly brings his sincerity to the promise to suspicion. Nothing more, nothing less, Ekweremadu simply saw David as a “gutter” boy and chose to take undue advantage of his poor state. This is the major misstep that dealt a serious blow to Ekweremadu being a lawyer by training and profession and further weakened his defense against his allegation of kidney fraud. Such an attitude not only reveals Ekweremadu’s pride in riches, and his dislike for the have-nots, but also diminishes his status as a political leader and Christian. Ekweremadu’s pride, self-love, and disdain for the poor are not strange in Nigeria, a country where the average money bags of the land would rather use the less privileged as slaves than improve their impoverished state.

As I approach the end of my view, it is informative to state that giving consent for kidney donation is a baffling, dangerously precarious decision that will make several people reject kidney donation to their blood relatives, not to talk of ordinary close relations. Consider it this way: Sonia has a lover (or even lovers), she has close friends, and has siblings, plus a host of kindred in her rich extended family. Should we say these categories of people overly value their health that they could not volunteer a kidney for Sonia? It is hard to believe the narration that the kidneys of these classes of people mismatch Sonia’s.

What if David had his remaining kidney damaged soon after donating to Sonia? Can he fund a kidney transplant for himself, given his status? If not, who will come to his aid? What about the enduring trauma, the longish dietary restriction, the prolonged restriction to some physical activities, and the lifelong limited organ function, among other risks and side effects of kidney removal surgery? Considering these risks, one expects Ekweremadu, a leader and wealthy man, to discuss humbly, negotiate personally, and compensate handsomely for the organ donation by the poor young David, allowing some members of his family to witness the accord—for the reason of the boy’s young age.

Don’t you think it was David's knowledge of the costly risks and the enduring side-effects of the proposed kidney surgery, after the doctors at the Royal Free Hospital had procedurally and professionally revealed to him, that could have made the smart young man took a dramatic u-turn, as he felt he could be cheated, given the cleverly negotiation-by-proxy that Ekweremadu reached with him? Simply put, David felt he could be used and dumped by Ekweremadu who had cunningly distanced himself from the deal. For this reason, he decided to outsmart the clever Ekweremadu. Do you blame the young man for that? I bet you don’t!

Finally, as I rest my pen, it is important I point out one key message in this organ harvesting scenario. The scandal shows how laws and institutions work well in developed countries. If the proposed kidney surgery were to be performed in Nigeria, David Ukpo would have had one of his kidneys removed before he could realize the unworthy deal he took. For our medics here, the mere knowledge of the personality involved would have prompted them to carry out the operation without adherence to the relevant laws and due processes.

tor na until she die before some realize it will be late very soon, let him go to india