They are an influential family in Nigeria. But the Ekweremadu spouses will find it difficult to exercise their power from the English prison. The Nigerian senator was sentenced on Friday to nine years and eight months in prison by a London court for having brought a young man from Lagos to remove a kidney from him and transplant it to his daughter. The 60-year-old elected official, his wife Beatrice and a doctor who acted as an intermediary were found guilty in March of having organized the trip to the United Kingdom of their victim, a 21-year-old street vendor from Lagos. They were convicted under Britain’s modern slavery law, first used in an organ harvesting case.
The wife of Ike Ekweremadu, 56, was sentenced to four years and six months in prison, while the doctor, Obinna Obeta, 51, received a 10-year sentence. All three faced life imprisonment. “You all played a role in a despicable trade,” Judge Jeremy Johnson said in delivering his decision, which the defendants received without showing emotion. “Trafficking in human organs is a form of slavery. It treats human beings and their body parts as materials that can be bought and sold,” he insisted. The couple’s daughter, Sonia, 25, was cleared.
Take advantage of the victim’s vulnerability
In this case, the defendants “used their political influence and power to control a young man who was vulnerable because of his economic situation”, Andy Furphy, the head of the modern slavery unit, told the press. and the exploitation of children in the London police. “Modern slavery in the UK is very serious and the conviction reflects that,” he added, noting that the phenomenon has increased over the past five years.
Unlike the Ekweremadu couple, the victim is a disadvantaged young man, a street vendor in Lagos. According to the prosecution, he had been promised up to 7,000 pounds sterling (7,800 euros), together with the promise to work and stay in the United Kingdom. During the trial, the young man had claimed to have realized only once in front of the British doctors that it was an organ transplant. After understanding the real reason for his coming to England, the victim went to the police in May 2022 “looking for someone to [lui] save the life “. The operation did not take place and the Ekweremadu couple had been arrested at Heathrow Airport in London in June.