Wellington Clinics suspends kidney transplants amid police organ-harvesting probe

Wellington Clinics in Abuja has suspended all kidney-transplant services while police investigate an alleged organ-harvesting and human-trafficking syndicate linked to an operation performed at the facility on April 24, 2026.

The hospital denied taking part in any paid arrangement involving the donor or recipient. Police recently arrested and paraded four suspects, including two medical doctors linked to Wellington Hospital. They allege that a 22-year-old man identified as Samuel Ezekiel was deceived into undergoing kidney removal and received $1,250, or about 1.7 million naira, for the kidney.

Wellington said its records identified the donor as Abubakar Hassan. The procedure, it said, was performed by a specialist team led by Dr Benjamin Friday Oyimeh, a senior consultant nephrologist and chief executive of Crown Medical and Kidney Centre. The clinic said it supplied an equipped operating theatre under a pre-agreed facility rental arrangement, while the specialist team retained responsibility for the donor and recipient.

“Wellington Clinics did not participate, facilitate, negotiate, or benefit from any transactional arrangements,” the hospital said in a statement signed by its Director of Administration, Yemi Olatunbosun. It said the lead consultant and team handled patient recruitment, clinical assessment, donor-recipient compatibility, informed consent, ethical screening and related clinical and legal matters.

The clinic said the donor was admitted as a scheduled kidney donor and underwent a left donor nephrectomy that day. The kidney was then transplanted into a patient with end-stage kidney failure. Wellington stressed that neither the donor nor recipient died as a result of the operation, and said it had suspended transplant-related services pending the investigation’s conclusion.

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Wellington Clinics did not participate, facilitate, negotiate, or benefit from any transactional arrangements.