The British Government has reportedly rejected Nigeria’s request to repatriate former Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, who is currently serving a prison sentence in the United Kingdom for organ trafficking, according to a report by The Guardian UK on Monday.
Ekweremadu, 63, was sentenced to nine years and eight months in 2023 after he, his wife, Beatrice, and a medical doctor, Obinna Obeta, were convicted of conspiring to exploit a young Nigerian man for his kidney. The organ was meant for their daughter, Sonia, at a private hospital in London.
The Guardian noted that the conviction was the first secured under the UK’s Modern Slavery Act for organ trafficking.
A Nigerian delegation led by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar, met with officials at the UK Ministry of Justice last week to request that Ekweremadu be transferred home to serve the remainder of his sentence.
However, a UK Ministry of Justice source told The Guardian that the appeal was denied due to concerns that Nigeria could not guarantee Ekweremadu would complete his sentence once returned.
While officials did not comment on the specific case, the UK government said that any prisoner transfer occurs only “at our discretion following a careful assessment of whether it would be in the interests of justice.”
Another UK government source stated that “the UK will not tolerate modern slavery and any offender will face the full force of UK law.”
Beatrice Ekweremadu, who was handed a four-and-a-half-year sentence, has already completed half of her term and returned to Nigeria.
During sentencing, Justice Jeremy Johnson condemned the defendants’ actions as part of a “despicable trade.”
He added, “The harvesting of human organs is a form of slavery. It treats human beings and their bodies as commodities to be bought and sold.”
He further described Ekweremadu as the “driving force” behind the plot and noted that the case represented a “substantial fall from grace.”
The victim, identified in court as C, was taken to a private renal unit at the Royal Free Hospital in London in February 2022 for a proposed £80,000 transplant. He was falsely presented as Sonia’s cousin who had volunteered to donate a kidney.
Despite an attempt to bribe a medical secretary, the hospital rejected the procedure in March 2022 but did not report the incident to police. The scheme only came to light when the victim fled and sought help, fearing he would be taken to Nigeria for another attempt.
Obeta had previously undergone a kidney transplant at the same hospital in 2021, allegedly using another trafficked donor. He is serving a 10-year sentence, with two-thirds required to be spent in custody.
Nigeria’s effort to secure Ekweremadu’s transfer has drawn criticism from many Nigerians.
The Nigerian High Commission in London had not issued a response at the time this report was filed.