Nigerian Senator and wife found guilty in organ harvesting plot

A senior Nigerian politician, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, his wife and doctor, Dr. Obinna Obeta have all been found guilty in a plot to harvest the kidney of a young Nigerian man in London.

On Thursday, March 23, a Jury in London determined that the trio were guilty of conspiring to exploit the trader from Lagos for one of his organs for their daughter, Sonia, who has a renal condition.

The landmark trial which had been running for close to a year shocked the United Kingdom and set tongues wagging in Nigeria.

Prosecutors told the court that the former senate president, 60, and his wife Beatrice Ekwerenadu, 56, had convinced the trader to donate his organ to save their daughter and offered a sum of 3.5 million Naira (GHS 93,498.00, or $7,600) as payment.

According to court documents, the couple had lied about their relationship with the victim on immigration forms, calling him a cousin.

The couple who found the trader in Lagos brought him to London with the hopes of donating his kidney to the 25-year-old daughter of the Senator. However, the operation was unsuccessful as doctors in the UK suspected foul play and did not go ahead with it.

The victim who testified in the case against the politician claimed he had not known of the plot to harvest his kidney until he was taken to the hospital where he run away into the streets for three days before reporting to London Police.

Chief Crown Prosecutor Joanne Jakyme who spoke at the London Central Criminal Court, the Old Bailey, said the defendants had “showed utter disregard for the victim’s welfare”

“The convicted defendants showed utter disregard for the victim’s welfare, health, and well-being and used their considerable influence to a high degree of control throughout, with the victim having a limited understanding of what was really going on here,” she pointed out.

An emotional court day saw the sick daughter in tears whiles hugging her parents as they were taken into custody ahead of their sentencing on May 5, 2023.

The opposition lawmaker had represented the Enugu West constituency in southeastern Nigeria for twenty years and did not seek re-election in the recent general elections .