Atiku: Economic Hardship Pushing Young Nigerians to sell Their Kidneys
.Okonkwo says Obi can’t defeat Tinubu without opposition coalition
Chuks Okocha in Abuja
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.
Meanwhile, Okonkwo said Obi would be easily defeated at the January 16 2027 general election without a united opposition while making a strong opposition coalition imperative ahead of the election.
He spoke in an interview with Ibeju Upgrade Media while reacting to the possibility of former Anambra State governor, Obi, challenging Tinubu, including reports of a possible Obi-Rabiu Kwankwaso ticket.
According to him, neither Obi nor any other opposition contender would have sufficient strength to defeat the incumbent without a broader political alliance.
“Coalition is the only way out,” Okonkwo said, stressing the need for opposition parties and political actors to consolidate their support instead of entering the presidential contest separately.
He was particularly dismissive of the prospect of Obi taking on Tinubu without such an arrangement.
“So, if Peter Obi goes against Tinubu alone, Tinubu will eat him like biscuits,” he said.
Okonkwo also questioned whether an Obi-led ticket could make significant gains in Kano State, where Obi contested the 2023 presidential election.
“Will Kano people accept Peter Obi? In 2023, when we had the opportunity, they did not accept him. In 2027, they will not accept him,” he said.
His assessment also extended to Kwankwaso, whose reported partnership with Obi has generated attention in discussions around the emerging opposition alignment.
Okonkwo argued that the former Kano State governor would not add the electoral value being attributed to him, claiming that his political influence had weakened even in Kano.
“Kwankwaso has nothing to contribute to the ticket. Even in Kano, Kwankwaso has lost,” he said.
The remarks come as opposition figures intensify efforts to construct a common platform capable of challenging the APC in the 2027 presidential election.
The search for such an arrangement has, however, been complicated by the ambitions of major opposition figures, with Obi and Atiku previously pursuing separate presidential bids on different platforms.
The G100 Opposition Coalition, led by former APC chieftain Salihu Lukman, has in recent months renewed efforts to persuade opposition parties and political actors to rally around a single candidate against the ruling party.
Okonkwo had previously criticised Obi’s capacity to tackle Nigeria’s economic and developmental challenges.
He has now placed the question of opposition unity at the centre of his argument on the 2027 contest.
The latest intervention also comes against the backdrop of a major realignment of Nigeria’s opposition ahead of the January 2027 presidential election, with the political forces that confronted Tinubu in 2023 now operating on separate platforms.
The 2023 election exposed the cost of that fragmentation.
Tinubu won with more than eight million votes, while Atiku and Obi polled more than six million votes each, leaving the opposition without a single candidate capable of consolidating the anti-APC vote.
In the aftermath, efforts were made to correct that weakness through a coalition that initially brought together major opposition figures and political blocs.
But the arrangement subsequently fractured over leadership, presidential ambition, ticket configuration and the question of who should emerge as the coalition’s presidential standard bearer.
The realignment became more pronounced after Obi and Kwankwaso moved into the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), where they have since emerged as the party’s presidential and vice-presidential tickets.
Their move effectively separated the duo from the opposition arrangement around Atiku and the African Democratic Congress (ADC), creating the possibility of multiple major opposition tickets confronting Tinubu in 2027.
That development has revived the central dilemma facing the opposition and that is whether its leading presidential contenders can subordinate individual ambitions to a single-ticket arrangement capable of pooling their different regional and voter constituencies.
While the NDC is projecting the Obi-Kwankwaso combination as a formidable national ticket, Atiku remains the ADC’s presidential candidate, leaving the opposition with competing claims to the electorate that challenged the APC in the last election.
The ADC has maintained that Atiku does not necessarily require a coalition to defeat Tinubu.
This position underscored the disagreement over whether unity is a prerequisite for victory.
The latest push for a common front is being driven by the G100 Opposition Coalition, which has reopened consultations with opposition leaders and other political actors on the possibility of presenting a single candidate against the APC.
The initiative gained fresh momentum in August, with figures including Atiku, Obi and other opposition politicians involved in renewed discussions on a common platform.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has also endorsed the G100 process, adding another major political organisation to the renewed attempt to build a broader opposition front.