The United Kingdom has turned down the Nigerian government’s bid to have former Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu transferred home to complete his prison sentence.
Ekweremadu is serving nine years and eight months in a UK prison after being convicted in March 2023 for conspiring to traffic a young man to London for the purpose of harvesting his kidney — a historic conviction under the UK’s Modern Slavery Act.
Earlier in November, President Bola Tinubu dispatched a high-powered delegation to London, led by Foreign Affairs Minister Yusuf Tuggar and Attorney-General Lateef Fagbemi, to negotiate Ekweremadu’s transfer. But the UK Guardian reports that a Ministry of Justice (MoJ) official confirmed the request had been rejected.
According to the outlet, British authorities were not convinced Nigeria could guarantee that Ekweremadu would continue serving his sentence if returned.
“Any prisoner transfer is at our discretion following a careful assessment of whether it would be in the interests of justice,” the official was quoted as saying.
“The UK will not tolerate modern slavery and any offender will face the full force of UK law.”
Background
Ekweremadu, his wife Beatrice, and medical doctor Obinna Obeta were arrested in June 2022 after a 21-year-old man claimed he had been brought to the UK under false pretences for an £80,000 kidney transplant for the couple’s daughter, Sonia. The man alerted police, leading to a landmark investigation.
In March 2023, all three were found guilty of organ trafficking. Ekweremadu received the longest sentence — nine years and eight months. Beatrice was handed four years and six months, while Obeta received a 10-year term. Beatrice has since been released early and returned to Nigeria.
With the UK government now refusing the transfer request, Ekweremadu will remain in a British prison for the foreseeable future.
