UK Rejects FG’s Request To Transfer Ekweremadu To Serve Sentence For Organ Harvesting In Nigeria

UK has rejected a request from the Nigerian government to have former Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu returned home to serve the remainder of his sentence for organ trafficking.

Re all that the 63-year-old former lawmaker is serving nine years and eight months in a UK prison after he was convicted in 2023 of conspiring to exploit a young man for his kidney.

The plot involved his wife, Beatrice, and a medical collaborator, Dr. Obinna Obeta, who trafficked the victim to London to harvest his kidney for Ekweremadu’s daughter, Sonia, at a private unit of an NHS hospital.

The case marked the first conviction for organ trafficking under the UK’s Modern Slavery Act.

A Nigerian delegation led by Foreign Affairs Minister Yusuf Tuggar met UK Ministry of Justice (MoJ) officials last week to request Ekweremadu’s deportation so he could complete his prison term in Nigeria.

However, a source within the MoJ confirmed the bid was declined, with concerns that Nigeria could not guarantee he would continue serving his sentence if transferred.

A government spokesperson declined to speak on the case directly, saying: “Any prisoner transfer is at our discretion following a careful assessment of whether it would be in the interests of justice.”

Another source added: “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, half of which was spent in custody, was released earlier this year and has since returned to Nigeria.

During sentencing, Mr. Justice Jeremy Johnson described the trio’s actions as 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 noted that Ekweremadu acted as the “driving force” behind the scheme, calling the conviction “a very substantial fall from grace.”

Details from the Old Bailey trial revealed weaknesses in the UK health system’s ability to detect organ trafficking.

In February 2022, the victim was taken to a private renal unit at the Royal Free Hospital in London, where it was falsely claimed he was Sonia’s cousin and had agreed to the £80,000 transplant.

Despite a bribe offered to a medical secretary, the hospital rejected the procedure in March 2022 — but did not alert the police.

The plot unraveled only after the victim fled to authorities, saying he feared he was being targeted for another transplant in Nigeria.

Obeta had earlier received a kidney transplant at the same hospital in July 2021 from another man, allegedly trafficked from Nigeria.

He is serving a 10-year sentence, two-thirds of which must be completed in prison.

Nigeria’s push to have Ekweremadu deported has drawn criticism at home, with questions raised over why the government has not made similar efforts for more than 230 other Nigerians imprisoned in the UK.