• Ike Ekweremadu, a former deputy Senate President, has been found guilty of organ trafficking by a court in the United Kingdom
  • His wife, Beatrice, and a doctor involved in the case, Obinna Obeta, were also implicated and found guilty
  • The jury concluded that they collaborated to bring a 21-year-old individual to London with the intention of exploiting him for his kidney

Former deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu, along with his wife, daughter, and a doctor, have been convicted of organ trafficking. This marks the first verdict of its kind under the Modern Slavery Act in the United Kingdom.

Ike Ekweremadu, aged 60, his wife Beatrice, aged 56, their 25-year-old daughter Sonia, and Dr. Obinna Obeta, aged 51, were found guilty of facilitating the travel of a young man to Britain with the aim of exploiting him. This verdict followed a six-week trial at the Old Bailey.

They were found to have conspired to bring a 21-year-old Lagos street trader to London for the purpose of exploiting him for his kidney.

The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had been offered an illegal reward to become a donor for the senator’s daughter. This came after kidney disease forced her to discontinue her master’s degree program in film at Newcastle University, as revealed in court.

In February 2022, the young man was falsely presented as Sonia’s cousin at a private renal unit at Royal Free hospital in London in an unsuccessful attempt to convince medical professionals to carry out an £80,000 transplant. Additionally, a medical secretary at the hospital, for a fee, acted as an Igbo translator between the man and the doctors to aid in persuading them that he was an altruistic donor.

Prosecutor Hugh Davies KC told the court that the Ekweremadus and Obeta treated the man and other potential donors as “disposable assets – spare parts for reward.” They engaged in an “emotionally cold commercial transaction” with the man.

The conduct of Ekweremadu, a successful lawyer and founder of an anti-poverty charity who contributed to Nigeria’s laws against organ trafficking, displayed “entitlement, dishonesty, and hypocrisy” as stated by Davies to the jury.

Davies emphasized that it is no defense for Ekweremadu to claim he acted out of love for his daughter. He highlighted that her clinical needs cannot come at the expense of the exploitation of someone in poverty.

Ekweremadu, who denied the charge, asserted that he was the victim of a scam. Obeta, also denying the charge, claimed that the man was not offered a reward for his kidney and was acting altruistically.

Beatrice denied any knowledge of the alleged conspiracy, and Sonia did not testify.

WhatsApp messages presented to the court disclosed that Obeta charged Ekweremadu 4.5 million naira (approximately £8,000), comprising an “agent fee” and a “donor fee.”

Ekweremadu and Obeta admitted to falsely claiming that the man was Sonia’s cousin in his visa application and in documents presented to the hospital.

Davies highlighted that Ekweremadu disregarded medical advice to find a donor for his daughter among genuine family members and pointed out that there was never any intention for a family member to donate, as it could be paid for from a pool of donors.

Mr. Justice Jeremy Johnson will deliver the sentence at a later date.