The British Government has declined Nigeria’s request to transfer former Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, to Nigeria to complete his prison sentence for organ trafficking.
Ekweremadu, 63, was sentenced in 2023 to nine years and eight months after a UK court found him, his wife, Beatrice, and a medical doctor, Obinna Obeta, guilty of conspiring to exploit a young Nigerian man for his kidney. The organ was intended for their daughter, Sonia, at a private London hospital.
The conviction was the first under the UK’s Modern Slavery Act for organ trafficking.
A Nigerian delegation led by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar, met UK Ministry of Justice officials last week to request Ekweremadu’s transfer. However, according to a Ministry of Justice source quoted by The Guardian UK, the request was rejected over concerns that Nigeria could not guarantee he would continue serving his sentence upon return.
The UK government stated that inmate transfers remain at its discretion and are approved only when they align with the interests of justice. Another UK official stressed that the country “will not tolerate modern slavery” and that offenders must face the full weight of UK law.
Beatrice Ekweremadu, who received a four-year, six-month sentence, has already been released after serving half her term and has returned to Nigeria.
During sentencing, Judge Jeremy Johnson condemned the crime as part of a “despicable trade,” calling organ harvesting a form of slavery that treats human beings as commodities. He described Ekweremadu as the “driving force” behind the plot.
The case first unfolded in 2022 when the victim, identified as C, was taken to the Royal Free Hospital in London for a proposed £80,000 transplant. He was wrongly presented as Sonia’s cousin who had volunteered to donate his kidney. After the hospital declined the procedure, the victim fled and sought help, fearing he would be taken back to Nigeria for another attempt.
Obinna Obeta, who had previously received a kidney transplant in 2021 from another allegedly trafficked donor, is serving a 10-year sentence, two-thirds of which must be spent in custody.
Nigeria’s attempt to secure Ekweremadu’s transfer has sparked mixed reactions among Nigerians. The Nigerian High Commission in London has not yet commented on the development.
