By Ogechi Okorie
The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) has reacted to the claims that it is probing the authenticity of the passport obtained by alleged minor, Nwamini David, who was allegedly trafficked to the United Kingdom by a former senate president, Ike Ekweremadu and his wife, Beatrice for organ harvest.
The service, in a statement by its public relations officer and Assistant Comptroller- General of Immigration, Amos Okpu , argued that , due process was followed in the procurement of the said travel document.
According to the statement, “The said documents were issued by competent offices and the necessary verifications were made to confirm their validity and correctness. Consequent upon this therefore, the said passport was issued to him having satisfied the basic requirements. “
The statement reads in part,” Mr David approached the application portal of the Service, applied and paid for the enhanced ePassport at the Gwagwalada Passport Office, FCT Abuja on the 2nd November, 2021. All the necessary documents including National Identity Number (NIN) issued by NIMC, letter of introduction issued by Ebonyi State Government Liaison Office, situated on Mississippi Maitama District Abuja, Birth Certificate issued by the National Population Commission and other relevant documents to support the application of Mr. David were presented for processing.”
Okpu who argued that they had no reason whatsoever to initiate any probe, wondered about the validity of the claims that due process was not observed in the issuance of the passport to Mr David Ukpo Nwamini.
He boasted that , “The Nigeria is one of the first four countries in the world to deploy modern technological tools to run the electronic Passport platform as far back as 2007. Ever since then, significant improvements have been recorded including migration to the enhanced ePassport regime recently, a technology that has added some additional security features and options of Passport categories to applicants.”
