UK rejects request to allow Ekweremadu serve the rest of his sentence back in Nigeria

BRITAIN has rejected a request from the Nigerian government to allow former deputy senate president Ike Ekweremadu to serve the remainder of his nine year prison sentence back home pointing out that any prisoner transfer must meet strict justice and security conditions.

In March 2023, Senator Ekweremadu, 63, began serving a nine year sentence after he was found guilty of organ trafficking.  In June 2022, the firmer deputy senate president and his wife Beatrice, were arrested by the London Metropolitan Police after a man was falsely presented to a private renal unit at Royal Free Hospital in London as a cousin to their daughter Sonia.

In what later turned out to be a failed attempt to persuade medics to carry out an £80,000 transplant, the man in question was found out to have been paid to donate his kidney. Senator Ekweremadu was subsequently arrested and convicted for his role in organ trafficking after attempting to bring the 21-year-old Lagos street vendor to Britain for a kidney transplant for

Apparently, the 21-year-old man, who was promised work in the UK, reported the matter to the police, stating that he was brought to the country for an organ transplant. In March 2023, Senator Ekweremadu was found guilty of organ trafficking by a UK court and was later sentenced to nine years and eight months under the UK Modern Slavery Act.

Earlier this month, President Bola Tinubu sent a delegation, which included foreign minister Yusuf Tuggar and attorney-general Lateef Fagbemi, to London to discuss the possibility of Senator Ekweremadu being allowed to return home and serve the rest of his sentence in Nigeria. This delegation was received at the Nigerian high commission in London by the acting high commissioner to the UK, Ambassador Mohammed Maidugu and later presented its case to the British ministry of justice.

Having considered the request, the British government has opted not to release Senator Ekweremadu, citing concerns that Nigeria could not guarantee he would continue serving his sentence after deportation. One British justice ministry source said the government could not comment on individual cases but stressed that any prisoner transfer must meet strict justice and security conditions.

He added:“The UK will not tolerate modern slavery and offenders will face the full force of the law.” Beatrice Ekweremadu, the senator's wife, who received a four-and-a-half-year sentence, has already been released and returned to Nigeria earlier this year.

During sentencing, the judge described the actions of the Ekweremadu's as a despicable trade, calling organ harvesting a form of modern slavery and stating that the senator was the driving force behind the conspiracy. This case also exposed vulnerabilities in the UK health system after it emerged the Royal Free Hospital did not report the suspicious transplant attempt to authorities.

The victim, known in court as C, later fled to the police after fearing he was being targeted for another transplant in Nigeria. Nigeria’s request for Senator Ekweremadu to be deported has sparked criticism at home, with many questioning why the government has not shown similar concern for the more than 230 other Nigerians imprisoned in the UK.