No way! UK rejects Nigeria’s request to transfer Ekweremadu

Ekweremadu

The British Government has turned down a request by Nigeria to deport former Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, who is serving a prison term in the United Kingdom for organ trafficking, The Guardian UK reports on Monday.

Ekweremadu, 63, was jailed for nine years and eight months in 2023 after a UK court found him, his wife, Beatrice, and a medical doctor, Obinna Obeta, guilty of conspiring to exploit a young Nigerian man for his kidney.

The kidney was intended for their daughter, Sonia, in a private London hospital.

According to The Guardian, the conviction was the first under the UK’s Modern Slavery Act for organ trafficking.

PUNCH Online reports that Nigeria’s delegation, led by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar, met officials at the UK Ministry of Justice last week to request that Ekweremadu be transferred home to serve the remainder of his sentence.

However, The Guardian quoted a Ministry of Justice source as saying the request was rejected over concerns that Nigeria could not guarantee Ekweremadu would continue serving his sentence after return.

The UK government, according to the report, said it could not comment on specific prisoners but stressed that any transfer “is at our discretion following a careful assessment of whether it would be in the interests of justice.” Punch