Nigerian senator and wife jailed for organ-harvesting plot

A wealthy Nigerian politician has been jailed for 9 years for plotting to cut off a man’s kidney after the victim hit back at the trio, saying “my body is not for sale”.

Senator Ike Ekweremadu, 60, his wife Beatrice, 56, and medical “middleman” Dr Obinna Obeta, 51, were found guilty of conspiring to arrange the visit of a young man to the Old Bailey so that his body part could be exploited Can go ,

The Ekweremdus’ 25-year-old daughter, Sonia, who has a chronic kidney condition, was present in court along with her older brother Lloyd and other members of the Ekveremdu family.

This is the first time the accused have been convicted of conspiracy to commit organ harvesting under the Modern Slavery ActIn which the maximum sentence was life imprisonment.

Ekvremadu, who owns assets worth £6 million in the UK, USA and the United Arab Emirates, was jailed for a total of 10 years and 8 months, and his wife, dressed in a purple shirt and black cardigan, was sentenced to 4 years and six months. Medical middleman Dr. Obinna Obeta wept as he was sentenced to 10 years in prison

A victim’s impact statement was read out in court revealing his humble background in a Lagos village where he is the eldest of seven siblings living in a house without electricity or running water.

When his father fell ill with a heart condition, he was forced to move to the city to become a street trader full-time in order to support his family. He used to earn a maximum of 7 pounds and a minimum of 50 paise a day selling mobile phone accessories from a handcart.

He said he had the opportunity to work in the UK, something he “always dreamed of but never thought would happen.”

However, he says he was shocked to learn that the reason for the trip was to chop off his organs to give them to Sonia.

“He [Dr Obina Obeta] Didn’t tell me that he brought me here for this reason, he didn’t tell me anything about it. I don’t agree to any of this, my body is not for sale,” said the victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons.

He said that he could not return to Nigeria and that Ekweremdus was too dangerous and he was concerned for his safety. He said that someone visited his father in Nigeria and asked him, the victim, to withdraw the case to his son.

“I am worried about my safety in Nigeria, they can do anything. I think they may arrest or kill me in Nigeria.”

He told the police that he did not want to claim compensation from the “bad guys” as it would be “cursed and bad luck”.

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

Ike Ekweremadu’s legal team presented 51-pages of character references to support a lenient sentence for husband and wife, including statements from the former President of Nigeria, the Speaker of the Nigerian House of Representatives and the Attorney General of Nigeria.

Mr Justice Johnson begins sentencing wealthy Nigerian couple Ike and Beatrice Ekweremadu and Dr Obinna Obeta in the Old Bailey for trafficking victims.

Underlining the groundbreaking case, the senior judge said: “Trafficking of human organs is a form of slavery.

“It treats human beings and their body parts as commodities to be bought and sold.

“It is a trade that preys on poverty, misery and desperation.”

He told the defendants: “Each and every one of you participated in that abominable trade.”

The court had heard that the victim, a 21-year-old street trader from Lagos, was brought to the UK last year to provide a kidney to Sonia Ekweremadu for an £80,000 private transplant at the Royal Free Hospital in London.

While kidney donation is legal, it becomes criminal when there is a reward of money or other material gain.

The prosecution said the donor was offered up to £7,000 and promised a better life in Britain.

The defendants tried to convince the medics at Royal Free by saying that they were cousins ​​of Ms. Ekvaremadu, when in fact they were not related.

more follows…