DAILY TRUST
Until February 19, 2023, the 16-year-old eldest son of Saliman Adedoyin, a 61-year-old mechanic from Kwara State who lives in Masaka, Karu LGA of Nasarawa State, near the FCT, Oluwatobi Adedoyin, was a boisterous youth. He was eager to write the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) organised by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) to fulfil his dream of studying cartoon editing under theatre arts.
However, everything changed on the day he was scheduled for his biometrics. From visiting the JAMB centre near his home, Oluwatobi was never seen or heard from by his parents. A month later, a family friend called his father to inform him that his son had arrived in Lagos State.
Days of suspicion over why Oluwatobi would run away from home eventually led the probing eyes of his Lagos guardian to a long fresh scar beneath his right rib cage. Put on the spot, Oluwatobi confessed that he was forced to flee home following threats by a syndicate of organ harvesters, who, after taking his right kidney, would go to any length to silence him.
The scar beneath Oluwatobi’s rib cage reminds him of what has been “stolen” from him.
“He is traumatised; we are all traumatised. I am not sure if it is my son I am seeing. I am seeing him like a picture now; he is not like before. All I want is justice. The government should hold those people who did this to my son. I want my son to be healthy and to go to school,” his father, Adedoyin, said.
As Oluwatobi’s body struggles to adapt to the use of one kidney, he told our reporter that he rarely sleeps at night and is now beginning to understand what happened to him.
He said, “I don’t feel as strong as I used to. I feel numb around the skin where the surgery was conducted.”
The teenager is one of thousands of people across the globe that are lured, exploited and sometimes coerced to sell their organs like kidneys in the black market. Worldwide, organ harvesting syndicates target vulnerable individuals from poor backgrounds such as Oluwatobi.
In a 2021 report, the International Criminal Police Organisation (Interpol) highlighted growing cases of human trafficking for organ removal in North and West Africa. The report showed probable links between transplant tourism, where a patient travels abroad to buy an organ for illegal transplant, and the traffic in human beings for organ removal in North and West Africa. It stated that in most cases the techniques used included promises of job opportunities abroad, as well as threats and violence.
It was the same technique used for Oluwatobi, who was lured by a friend in February, and coerced by a syndicate to pose as a nephew to one Egbuson Sampson, a patient with failed kidneys, at the Abuja-based Alliance Hospital in Area 11, Garki.
How my kidney was harvested – Oluwatobi
Oluwatobi’s predicament started on February 9, 2023, when a friend he referred to as Yellow informed him of a job that would earn him some money. He said he was cajoled into meeting a man who identified himself as Emmanuel Melody and assured him he was a staff of Alliance Hospital in Area 11.
Oluwatobi was persuaded to submit himself for a blood test, which Mr Melody said was needed for the job.
Three days later, Melody reached out to the Oluwatobi through Yellow and requested another meeting.
“It was at that meeting that he told me that they wanted my kidney and I immediately refused. We left, but he called three days later, saying we should come and collect part payment, then we could go back home and think about it. My friend persuaded me and we went there around 4pm,” Oluwatobi explained.
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