Senator Ike Ekweremadu’s trial in the United Kingdom for alleged organ harvesting will resume today, Tuesday, January 31, 2023.
SaharaReporters previously reported that the senator’s case had been adjourned in November, with arguments scheduled for December 16 and 19, 2022.
On June 23, Ekweremadu, who represents Enugu West Senatorial District on the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) platform, and his wife, Beatrice, were arrested in London and charged with conspiracy for human trafficking and organ harvesting.
The alleged crime committed by Ekweremadu, according to the UK court, violated the Modern Slavery Act of 2015.
Prosecutors claim that the defendants planned to remove a kidney from a 21-year-old Nigerian man and donate it to the politician’s daughter, Sonia.
The man is said to have raised the alarm following preliminary tests at a north London hospital after refusing to consent to the procedure.
Charges were filed after the man approached police in a town outside of London, and the Ekweremadus were apprehended in June last year after flying into the country at London’s Heathrow airport.
Obinna Obeta, a 50-year-old south London doctor, was later arrested.
The trial is scheduled to begin at 11:00 a.m. on Tuesday (WAT). It was moved up from a planned May date.
Ekweremadu is a Peoples Democratic Party senator from Enugu state in southeast Nigeria.
The Ekweremadus and the doctor are accused of conspiring to arrange the travel of another person for the purpose of exploitation under UK modern slavery legislation.
The alleged crime is said to have taken place between August 2021 and May 2022.
The bail application of Ike Ekweremadu was denied due to concerns that he would flee the country.
Obeta, the doctor, was also taken into custody. Conditional bail has been granted to Beatrice and Sonia Ekweremadu.