The Central Criminal Court, Old Bailey in the United Kingdom, yesterday jailed the former deputy senate president, Mr. Ike Ekweremadu nine years and eight months for organ harvesting plot.
His wife, Beatrice, will spend four years and six months in prison for her “more limited involvement” in the matter.
The court also handed down a 10-year prison sentence on a 56-year-old UK-based Nigerian doctor, Obinna Obeta.
Besides, Obeta, has his medical licence suspended.
However, after deducting the period already spent in detention, Justice Jeremy Johnson who pronounced the sentencing said Ekweremadu, 60, would spend about 5/6 years in prison (2/3 of his 9+ year prison sentence) while Beatrice, 56, will spend about two years in prison (one half of her 4+ years in prison).
Johnson, in his verdict, described Ekweremadu as the “driving force throughout” while Dr. Obeta was accused of targeting the potential donor who was said to have been young, poor and vulnerable.
The court said the doctor lied to doctors and falsely claimed the young potential donor was a cousin of the senator’s daughter, Sonia, who urgently needed a transplant.
They were also convicted for conspiring to exploit the victim, who fled and took refuge at a London Police station, on hearing that he would be returned to Nigeria upon being discovered as a “mismatch”.
Ekweremadu was arrested on June 23, 2022, by the London Metropolitan Police for ‘conspiring to bring a child to the UK for organ harvesting’.
The police said investigation into the matter was launched after detectives were alerted to “potential offences under the modern slavery legislation in May 2022”.
It said the child had been safeguarded and it was working closely with partners on continued support.
His case was scheduled for further hearing on July 7, 2022, after which he was said to have been found guilty of the allegations and remanded in prison, awaiting sentencing.
Deputy chief crown prosecutor and National Modern Slavery Lead at the Crown Prosecution Service, Lynette Woodrow, said it had been “our first conviction for trafficking for the purposes of organ removal in England and Wales”.
“With all trafficking offences, the consent of the person trafficked is no defense. The law is clear; you cannot consent to your own exploitation,” Woodrow said.
Meanwhile, the apex Igbo socio-cultural group, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, has faulted the federal government for doing nothing to save Ekweremadu.
Spokesman for the group, Mr. Alex Ogbonnia, said the government failed to treat him “like someone who has served meritoriously in this country.”
“Rather, while he was facing the travails, the federal government came out with charges and allegations of corruption and seized his properties.
“This is a man who has been around you, walked with you for years and when he needed your help they were busy talking about auctioning his properties. All those things indicated that it was not only the UK court that was after him, but the federal government was also after him.”
However, he said the convict “will come out stronger and better” for “he has always been a strong and courageous man.”
“It is shocking and painful that an illustrious Igbo man of that calibre will be involved in this kind of sentencing. However, there is nothing we can do about it for now,” he added.
