The United Kingdom court has sentenced former Deputy Senate President of Nigeria, Ike Ekweremadu to 9 years and 8 months and his wife, Beatrice, to 4 years 6 months in prison for an organ trafficking plot.
The medical doctor who acted as a ‘middleman’, Dr Obinna Obeta, was sentenced to 10 years and his medical licence suspended.
They brought in a 21-year-old Lagos street trader to London to exploit him for his kidney. They offered him an illegal reward to become a donor for their daughter, Sonia Ekweremadu kidney disease.
He was falsely presented as Sonia’s cousin donating his kidney in a failed bid to persuade doctors to carry out an £80,000 private procedure at the Royal Free Hospital in London.
Ike Ekweremadu, according to the BBC, was described by the judge as the driving force of the crime. His wife received a lesser sentence due to her more limited involvement, the judge ruled.
The judge, Justice Johnson, said he took into consideration “a 51-page document” pleading for leniency for Mr Ekweremadu and highlighting how he is a person of upstanding character.
In the preclvious week, The Nigerian parliament and ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo, among others, had pleaded for leniency for the Ekweremadus.
