A Federal High Court in Abuja, on Wednesday, ordered the National Identity Management Commission to submit the Certified True Copy (CTC) of David Ukpo’s biodata to the Attorney-General of the Federation.
Presiding judge, Justice Inyang Ekwo, had last Friday ordered NIMC, Nigeria Immigration Service, Stanbic IBTC and United Bank for Africa to supply Ukpo’s information to former Deputy Senate presiydent, Senator Ike Ekweremadu.
But at Wednesday’s court session, Ekweremadu’s counsel, Adegboyega Awomolo, told the court that NIMC had yet to comply with the previous order.
In his response, NIMC counsel, Muazu Mohammed, said the commission was reluctant to release Ukpo’s biodata because it wanted to protect its system.
According to him, “It is not that the first respondent (NIMC) is not ready to comply. We have been talking with applicants’ counsel since the day of judgment.
“The difficulty is that we want to protect the system. If we comply with this judgment, the system will suffer in the future my lord.”
NIMC’s counsel said although the commission had reached 90 percent compliance with the order, it was constrained to release the biodata to the applicants because of the Act which set up the agency.
He said the law does not permit NIMC to release an individual’s biodata to another individual.
The counsel noted that if this was done due to the applicants’ high positions, it may be exploited in the future.
But the judge said the order was not made because the applicants were highly-placed.
He said the judgment was made for the whole of the country, adding it could have been an ordinary Nigerian making the application and that the court is there to protect everyone.
“If you need an order of court to carry out the judgment, it is a simple application,” Ekwo added.
Mohammed, therefore requested the court to direct the agency to supply Ukpo’s biodata information to the AGF.
Awomolo did not oppose the application.
“We agree that the document be transmitted to the AGF for onward transmission to the UK,” he said.
The judge then granted the prayer.
London Metropolitan Police had last month arrested and charged Ekweremadu and his wife to court for allegedly bringing a child (Ukpo) to the UK for organ harvesting.
But according to a letter addressed to the British High Commission, Ekweremadu had said Ukpo was travelling to the UK for tests to determine if could donate a kidney to Sonia, the lawmakers daughter.
The UK authorities and police said the “child” had “been safeguarded”, as the police said their operatives “are working closely with partners on continued support”.
Although the London police described Ukpo to be 15, his passport and bank verification number (BVN) show he is 21.