The former Deputy Senate President of Nigeria, Ike Ekweremadu, along with his wife, Beatrice, and a medical doctor, Dr Obinna Obeta, have been sentenced to varying prison terms for conspiring to exploit a young man for his body parts. Ekweremadu was sentenced to nine years and eight months imprisonment, while his wife received a sentence of four years and six months. Dr Obinna Obeta received the longest sentence of 10 years imprisonment.
The three were found guilty of conspiring to arrange the travel of a young man with the intention of exploiting him for his body part, specifically his kidney. The victim, who was lured to the United Kingdom under the pretense of a job opportunity, revealed in a letter to the court that he was shocked upon discovering the true reason for the trip was to harvest his organs to give to Ekweremadu’s daughter, Sonia.
The victim, who hails from a humble background in a Lagos village, stated that he had always dreamed of working in the UK but never thought it would happen. He was forced to become a street trader full time, moving to the city to provide for his family when his father fell ill with a heart problem. He sold mobile phone accessories from a wheelbarrow, making at most £7 a day and as little as 50p.
The victim expressed his shock and disappointment in Dr Obinna Obeta for not telling him the true reason for his trip, stating that he would have never agreed to it if he had known. He emphasized that his body parts were not for sale, and he would not have agreed to the trip if he had known the true reason for it.
Furthermore, the victim claimed that someone visited his father in Nigeria and asked him to get the victim, his son, to drop the case. The victim also expressed his safety concerns and stated that he could not return to Nigeria because he fears for his life.
The victim’s impact statement was read in court on Friday, where he declined compensation from the “bad people” as he believed it would be “cursed and bad luck”.
