Kidney harvest: Nigerian government takes move for transfer of Ekweremadu from London to complete jail term in Nigeria

The Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu has sent a high-level delegation to London to discuss the case of a former Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, who has been serving a prison sentence in the foreign over kidney harvesting since March 2023.

Penpushing reports that the discussion was centered on a letter submitted by the delegation requesting for a prisoner transfer to allow Ekweremadu to serve the remainder of his sentence in Nigeria.

The delegation, included the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar, and the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi,who on Monday held discussions with officials at the United Kingdom Ministry of Justice regarding Ekweremadu’s incarceration

Penpushing further reports that following the meeting, the team was received at the Nigerian High Commission in London by the Acting High Commissioner to the UK, Ambassador Mohammed Maidugu.

The spokesman for the Foreign Affairs Minister, Alkasim AbdulKadir,  confirmed the development stating that the consultations with United Kingdom authorities are ongoing, adding that a formal request has been submitted.

“Consultations are still ongoing with UK authorities on the matter. An appeal for a prisoner exchange for him to serve the remainder of his term in Nigeria was tabled before the United Kingdom authorities’, he said

Penpushing also reports that it would be recalled that  Ekweremadu and his wife were arrested by the London Metropolitan Police in June 2022, 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 turned out to be a failed attempt to persuade medics to carry out an £80,000 transplant.

The Nigerian politician was convicted in the United Kingdom for his role in organ trafficking after attempting to bring a 21-year-old Lagos street vendor to Britain for a kidney transplant intended for his daughter, Sonia.

Penpushing reports that the 21-year-old man, who was allegedly promised work in the United Kingdom reported the matter to the police in May of the same year, stating that he was brought to the country for an organ transplant.

The former Deputy Senate President was in March 2023 found guilty of organ trafficking by a United Kingdom court and was later, in May, sentenced to nine years and eight months under the United Kingdom Modern Slavery Act.

Penpushing further reports that, his wife, Beatrice, received a four-year and six-month sentence and was released early in 2025, while a medical intermediary, Dr Obinna Obeta, was handed a ten-year prison term.

The wife was, however, released in January from prison and returned to Nigeria, while it also recalled that the case drew widespread attention, sparking diplomatic discussions between Nigeria and the United Kingdom, exposing gaps in transplant regulations, and prompting further investigations in the United Kingdom.

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