UK rejects FG’s request to transfer Ekweremadu to Nigeria

The  government  of the United Kingdom has rejected a request by Nigeria to deport Ike Ekweremadu, 63, convicted of organ trafficking, according to The UK Guardian. Ekweremadu, a former deputy president of the Nigerian Senate and ally of the former President Goodluck Jonathan, is serving a sentence of nine years and eight months after being […]

The  government  of the United Kingdom has rejected a request by Nigeria to deport Ike Ekweremadu, 63, convicted of organ trafficking, according to The UK Guardian.

Ekweremadu, a former deputy president of the Nigerian Senate and ally of the former President Goodluck Jonathan, is serving a sentence of nine years and eight months after being found guilty in 2023 of conspiring to exploit a man for his kidney.

Ekweremadu, his wife, Beatrice, and a co-conspirator, Dr Obinna Obeta, trafficked a young man to London with a view to harvesting his kidney, which they planned to transplant to Ekweremadu’s daughter, Sonia, in a private unit of an NHS hospital.

It was the first conviction for organ trafficking under the Modern Slavery Act.

Last week, a Nigerian government delegation, led by the foreign minister, Yusuf Tuggar, met officials at the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) to discuss Ekweremadu’s case.

The delegation requested his deportation so he could serve his remaining sentence in Nigeria.

A source at the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) confirmed to the newspaper that the request was rejected.

It is understood that the UK government was concerned that Nigeria could offer no guarantees that Ekweremadu would continue his prison sentence after being deported.

When approached by the newspaper, a government spokesperson said it could not comment on individual prisoners. They added: “Any prisoner transfer is at our discretion following a careful assessment of whether it would be in the interests of justice.”

A source said: “The UK will not tolerate modern slavery and any offender will face the full force of UK law.”

Beatrice Ekweremadu, who was sentenced to four years and six months, with half spent in custody, was released earlier this year and has since returned to Nigeria.

 

The case

In February 2022, the young man, David Nwamini, whom Ekweremadu trafficked to London, was taken to a private renal unit at the Royal Free Hospital in London.

It was falsely claimed that the man was Sonia’s cousin and had agreed to the £80,000 transplant.

Despite bribing a medical secretary, the attempted transplant by the Ekweremadus was rejected by the hospital in March 2022. But the medics did not report the incident to the police.

The plot was discovered only when the victim, referred to as C in court, fled to the police in fear for his life because he believed he was being lined up by a medical doctor, Obinna Obeta, for another transplant in Nigeria.

Obeta had himself received a kidney transplant at the Royal Free in July 2021 from another man, allegedly trafficked from Nigeria.

He was sentenced to 10 years, two-thirds of which must be served in prison.

In his sentencing remarks, Mr Justice Jeremy Johnson said all three conspirators played a part in a “despicable trade”. He said: “The harvesting of human organs is a form of slavery. It treats human beings and their bodies as commodities to be bought and sold.”

The judge described Ekweremadu as the “driving force” behind the organ-trafficking plot, and said his conviction represented “a very substantial fall from grace.”

His Old Bailey trial exposed vulnerability and complacency in the UK health system to organ trafficking.

Nigeria’s request to deport Ekweremadu has been criticised in his home country and raised questions about why the Nigerian government has not tried to intervene in over 230 other Nigerians imprisoned in the UK.

 

FG’ move to transfer Ekweremadu

Daily Trust reports that, earlier this month, the Federal Government was exploring the possibility of securing his transfer.

A high-level delegation from Nigeria was dispatched to the United Kingdom to engage British authorities.

The delegation, which met with officials at the UK Ministry of Justice in London, included Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Maitama Tuggar, and the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi.

The team was later received at the Nigerian High Commission in London by Ambassador Mohammed Maidugu, the Acting High Commissioner to the United Kingdom.

The meeting formed part of President Bola Tinubu’s efforts to secure either Ekweremadu’s early release or a review of his sentence on humanitarian and legal grounds.

Officials familiar with the talks said the Nigerian government was seeking to open discussions around possible prisoner-transfer arrangements, compassionate parole, or other relief permitted under UK law.

“We are working on an appeal for a prisoner exchange for him to serve the remainder of his term in Nigeria,” a top official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs confided in Daily Trust.

“Consultations are still ongoing with the UK authorities,” he added.