Ike Ekweremadu and wife bag over 14 years’ imprisonment for organ trafficking

Nigerian former Deputy Senate President and his wife have bagged prison sentences following their involvement in the alleged attempt to harvest organs.

On Friday, 5 May 2023, a British court sentenced Ike Ekweremadu, 60, to over 9 years’ imprisonment for human organ trafficking.

His wife, Beatrice, 56. was given four years and six months, while the medical doctor, Obinna Obeta, received 10 years for his involvement.

The trio was sentenced at the Old Bailey under the Modern Slavery Act for conspiring to arrange a young man’s travel to exploithim for his body part.

The Senator and his wife were convicted of trafficking an alleged homeless Nigerian to the United Kingdom to donate a kidney for their daughter.

Sonia, 25, Ekewremadu’s daughter, the intended recipient of the organ, and her brother, Lloyd, were in the court when the judge read the sentences.

Mr Ekweremadu, who owns £6 million worth of properties in the UK, the United States and the United Arab Emirates, is the first to be sentenced under the Modern Slavery Act, which carries a life sentence.

The victim, whose name cannot be named for legal reasons, read his impact statement in court.

The statement showed the victim came from a humble background in Lagos and was the oldest child of a family of seven.

He grew up in a village without electricity or running water and was forced to become a street trader to provide for his family when his father became sick with a heart problem.

He sold phone accessories on a wheelbarrow, making at most £7 a day.

He narrated how he was approached with an opportunity by Ekweremadu’s family but only discovered later that the “opportunity” was to harvest his organs for the Senator’s daughter, Sonia.

The victim said, “He [Dr Obina Obeta] did not tell me he brought me here for this reason, he did not tell me anything about this. I would have not agreed to any of this, my body is not for sale,”

He told the court that he could be killed or arrested if he returned to Nigeria, adding that someone visited his father to persuade him to drop the case.

He told the court, “I worry for my safety in Nigeria, those people can do anything. I think they could arrest me or kill me in Nigeria.”

According to the statement, the victim told the police he won’t take compensation from Ekweremadu and his family, referring to them as “bad people”, adding that it would be a “curse and bad luck.”

He said: “My plan now is to work and to get an education and to play football.”