Legal counsel to activist VeryDarkMan, Abubakar Marshal, has alleged a shocking case of illegal organ harvesting in Abuja. According to the lawyer, a young man had his left kidney unlawfully removed and was paid a mere N1.5 million following the unauthorized procedure.

Speaking in a televised interview monitored by Vanguard, Marshal revealed the victim received roughly $1,300. He noted this amount was equivalent to approximately N1.5 million at the time of the transaction.

The case originally reached the Martins Vincent Center Initiative (MVI), a non-governmental organization led by social media activist VeryDarkMan. The victim directly approached the foundation, alleging that his left kidney had been unlawfully removed during a medical procedure. Skeptical of the shocking claim, the organization initially expressed doubts and instructed the young man to provide verifiable medical evidence to back up his allegations.

In response, the young man returned to the organization with an official medical report confirming the complete absence of his left kidney. Seeking absolute certainty, Abubakar Marshal and the organization decided to independently verify the authenticity of the documentation rather than taking it at face value.

They escorted the victim to two separate healthcare facilities in Abuja for independent evaluations: a reputable private hospital and the government-run Federal Medical Centre (FMC) in Jabi. Both independent medical assessments definitively confirmed that the young man’s left kidney had indeed been surgically removed, prompting the legal team and the activist to take up the case.

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.

Abubakar Marshal alleged that this specific case is not an isolated incident, but rather part of a broader, predatory network targeting vulnerable youths across the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). He revealed that multiple young men residing around the Karu, Nyanya, and Mararaba axes have either come forward or are currently being identified with identical grievances. According to the lawyer, specific hospitals within these corridors actively lure financially desperate youths into having their organs harvested while entirely bypassing the legally mandated procedures.

The legal counsel characterized the illicit trade as a severe exploitation of systemic poverty. He claimed that compromised medical facilities employ syndicates of agents to scout for young men facing acute financial hardships. These agents then manipulate the victims’ economic vulnerabilities, enticing them into organ harvesting procedures under the guise of quick monetary relief.

Marshal further alleged a stark financial disparity between what the victims receive and what the syndicates pocket. While the vulnerable young men are paid relatively minor sums—such as the N1.5 million ($1,300) documented in the current case—the harvested kidneys are reportedly sold to wealthy recipients for tens of millions of Naira, yielding massive illegal profits for the perpetrators.

“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 demanded immediate legal prosecution against all medical facilities and healthcare practitioners implicated in the illicit organ trafficking network, insisting that these unlawful operations within the FCT must be brought to an absolute halt.

This media outlet noted that it could not independently verify these severe accusations, as the legal counsel did not explicitly name the specific hospitals or medical professionals involved in the alleged syndicate.