The United Kingdom (UK) government has rejected the federal government’s request to transfer Ike Ekweremadu, the former deputy senate president, to serve the remainder of his prison term in Nigeria.
The embattled former lawmaker is currently serving a prison sentence in the UK for organ trafficking.
He was convicted in March 2023 and sentenced to nine years and eight months for conspiring to exploit a young man’s kidney.
We had previously reported that President Tinubu sent a high-level delegation to London to discuss Ekweremadu’s case and explore the possibility of him serving the remainder of his prison term in Nigeria.
The delegation included the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar, and Lateef Fagbemi, Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice.
However, the UK Guardian, quoting an unnamed official of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), reports that the Nigerian government’s request was turned down.
“A source at the MoJ has confirmed the request was rejected. It is understood the UK government was concerned that Nigeria could offer no guarantees that Ekweremadu would continue his prison sentence after being deported,” the newspaper said.
“Any prisoner transfer is at our discretion following a careful assessment of whether it would be in the interests of justice,” the UK Guardian quoted the official as saying.”
“The UK will not tolerate modern slavery and any offender will face the full force of UK law.”
Ekweremadu and his wife, Beatrice, and a UK-based doctor, Obinna Obeta, were arrested in June 2022 at Heathrow Airport in London.
They were accused of conspiring to traffic a young Nigerian man to the UK for the purpose of harvesting his kidney for their ailing daughter.
His wife, Beatrice, has since regained her freedom and returned to Nigeria.
In March 2023, a UK court found all three guilty under the Modern Slavery Act 2015, marking the first conviction of its kind involving organ trafficking.
The case drew global attention, highlighting the growing concern over cross-border human trafficking and the abuse of medical ethics.