President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has dispatched a high-level Nigerian government delegation to the United Kingdom to engage officials of the UK Ministry of Justice on the case of the former Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, who has been in custody in the UK since March 2023.
The delegation, led by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Maitama Tuggar, includes the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, SAN.
Senator Ekweremadu, his wife, Beatrice, and a UK-based medical doctor, Obinna Obeta, were arrested in June 2022 at Heathrow Airport, London, over allegations of conspiring to traffic a young Nigerian man to the UK for the purpose of organ harvesting for their ailing daughter.
In March 2023, a UK court found the trio guilty under the Modern Slavery Act 2015, marking the first conviction of its kind for organ trafficking. Justice Jeremy Johnson described the offence as one that exploited the vulnerability of the victim. Senator Ekweremadu was sentenced to nine years and eight months in prison; his wife, Beatrice, to four years and six months; and Dr. Obeta to ten years.
Mrs. Ekweremadu has since completed her sentence and been released.
The case, which attracted international attention, underscored global concerns about cross-border human trafficking and the ethical dimensions of organ transplantation.
President Tinubu’s decision to send a delegation reflects Nigeria’s continued diplomatic engagement with the UK government to explore available legal and humanitarian options within the framework of international law and the longstanding bilateral relationship between both countries.
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