- Safiu Kehinde
The United Kingdom Government has declined the repatriation request by Nigeria to deport former Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, who is serving a prison term in the country for organ trafficking,
Recall that Ekweremadu had in 2023 bagged nine years and eight months jailterm 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 kidney was intended for their daughter, Sonia, in a private London hospital.
They were however arrest and arraigned to court where they were convicted under the UK’s Modern Slavery Act for organ trafficking.
While Beatrice Ekweremadu, who was sentenced to four years and six months, has since been released and deported to Nigeria after serving half of her term, her husband remained in the British prison.
However, a Ministry of Justice source reportedly disclosed that the request was rejected over concerns that Nigeria could not guarantee Ekweremadu would continue serving his sentence after return.
The UK government, according to the Guardian, said it could not comment on specific prisoners but stressed that any transfer “is at our discretion following a careful assessment of whether it would be in the interests of justice.”
Another UK government source told the paper that “the UK will not tolerate modern slavery and any offender will face the full force of UK law.”