Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) has attributed economic hardship as one of the reasons forcing young Nigerians to sell their kidneys.
This was as one of the spokesmen of Atiku, Kenneth Okonkwo, has said that the presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Peter Obi, would be easily defeated at the January 16, 2027 general elections without a united opposition.
The former vice president raised the alarm over what he described as a growing trend of young Nigerians selling their kidneys to survive amid the country’s cost-of-living crisis, blaming President Bola Tinubu’s economic policies for the development.
The ADC presidential candidate, in a post on X on Thursday, said he had heard “disturbing stories” of young Nigerians resorting to selling body organs, particularly kidneys, in desperate attempts to raise money.
“I have heard disturbing stories about the extent to which young Nigerians are being driven simply to survive. Perhaps the most horrifying are the growing reports of young people selling parts of their bodies: kidneys in particular, in desperate attempts to raise money,” Atiku wrote.
Atiku said that young Nigerians ought to be “selling dreams, ideas and innovation, not their body organs,” adding that the trend should “offend the conscience of every Nigerian.”
He claimed that young Nigerians were reportedly being driven to sell their kidneys for as little as N1.7m, a figure he did not attribute to any specific report or agency.
He traced the trend to the economic hardship and rising cost of living under the Tinubu administration, listing food, transport, rent, school fees, medicine and electricity as items that have become increasingly unaffordable for ordinary Nigerians.
According to the former vice President, “In Tinubu’s Nigeria, almost everything required to live with dignity is becoming more expensive by the day: food, transport, rent, school fees, medicine and electricity.
“Yet young Nigerians are reportedly being driven to sell their kidneys for as little as N1.7 million.
“That should break the heart of a nation.
“Young Nigerians should be building careers, starting businesses, raising families and pursuing their dreams, not calculating how much parts of their bodies can fetch simply to stay alive.
“When young Nigerians begin to see their kidneys as emergency savings, we are no longer talking about ordinary economic hardship. We are talking about desperation at its most frightening.”
Atiku acknowledged that Nigeria already has laws prohibiting commercial organ sales and organ trafficking, but argued that “laws alone cannot cure the poverty and desperation that make vulnerable young people easy prey for criminal networks.”
He called for economic reforms with “a human face,” including affordable food, cheaper transportation, accessible healthcare, decent jobs and “renewed hope for the next generation.”
The former Vice President capped the statement with a direct jab at the President, “Tinubu made Nigeria expensive. I will make Nigeria affordable again.”
Atiku’s remarks came amid a spate of reports and unverified claims about organ trafficking in parts of the country in recent weeks.
The Nigeria Police Force recently paraded four suspects, including two nephrologists, over the alleged operation. Police said one of the suspects, Emmanuel Ode, allegedly admitted to recruiting victims and disclosed that a 22-year-old man had been lured to a hospital in Abuja in April, where his kidney was allegedly harvested for $1,250, equivalent to about N1.7m.
Chuks Okocha
Follow us on:
