Former Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu has been sentenced to 9 years and 8 months in prison for organ trafficking charges he was found guilty of in March 2023.
The Old Bailey jury found Ekweremadu, 60, his wife, Beatrice, 56, and Dr Obinna Obeta, 51, who served as middle man, guilty in the first organ trafficking conviction under the Modern Slavery Act.
The three were found to have conspired to bring a 21-year-old Lagos street trader to a private renal unit at London’s Royal Free hospital as a potential kidney donor for Ekweremadu’s daughter Sonia.
In his sentencing remarks on Friday, Mr Justice Jeremy Johnson stated, “The harvesting of human organs is a form of slavery. It treats human beings and their bodies as commodities to be bought and sold.”
He also referred to the conspirators’ actions as a “despicable trade.” Mr Justice Johnson pointed out that Ekweremadu had been part of the Nigerian senate when it outlawed organ trafficking.
“Your conviction represents a very substantial fall from grace.”
The judge told Ekweremadu, “You played a leading role in the offending. You did so in order to secure the material advantage, namely a human kidney for your daughter. I am sure that you were the driving force throughout.”
He further stated, “You were involved in the corruption of a member of hospital staff.”
The Nigerian Senate and Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS, had urged the judge to show clemency to Ekweremadu, a political ally of the former president Goodluck Jonathan.
Beatrice Ekweremadu was sentenced to four years and six months, with half spent in custody.
Obeta, who helped organize the organ harvesting plot after himself receiving a kidney transplant at the Royal Free in July 2021 from another man allegedly trafficked from Nigeria, was sentenced to 10 years, two-thirds of which must be served in prison.
The male victim, referred to as C in the court, went to the police in May 2022 in fear of his life because he believed he was being lined up by Obeta for another transplant in Nigeria.
In a victim’s statement read to the court, he said he remained fearful of reprisals against him and his family and was worried that his father had been approached to drop the case.
“I can’t think about going home to Nigeria. These people are extremely powerful, and I’m worried for my safety.”
The attempted transplant by the Ekweremadus was rejected by the hospital in March 2022.