Why Ekweremadu did not seek kidney donor from family members

A court in London heard that former Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu, was advised by his doctor not to seek a kidney donor from among his family members.

Ekweremadu and his wife, Beatrice, are currently facing charges in the UK for allegedly luring a young man from Nigeria to harvest his organ for their ailing daughter, Sonia, who is also standing trial. The young man, a trader from Lagos, was promised £80,000 for donating a kidney to Sonia in a private procedure at the Royal Free Hospital in London.

However, the Ekweremadus turned to Turkey to search for an organ after the 21-year-old was rejected as unsuitable. Ekweremadu claimed he did not ask family members to donate because of advice from his non-nephrologist brother and Dr Obeta, who was not a nephrologist.

Prosecutor Hugh Davies KC suggested that Ekweremadu could have asked a specialist instead of relying on second-hand accounts.

Ekweremadu denied agreeing to get a donor through agents and claimed that the prosecutor's claims were not factual. The trial continues.

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