Potential kidney donor speaks as Ekweremadu is jailed in UK

Former deputy Senate president Ike Ekweremadu, his wife and their “middleman” have been jailed in UK for attempting to obtain kidney for their ill daughter from a man they took to London.

– Key points to note

Mr Ekweremadu, 60, was jailed to nine years and eight months in prison, while his wife Beatrice, 56, was sentenced to four years and six months. Dr Obinna Obeta, 50, was sentenced to 10 years.

The trio had been earlier convicted. Prosecutors said they conspire to exploit the man for the benefit of their daughter, 25-year-old daughter Sonia.

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According to the BBC, the judge said Mr Ekweremadu was the “driving force throughout” while Dr Obeta targeted the potential donor who was young, poor and vulnerable.

They were found guilty of organ trafficking, which prosecutors said was a form of slavery.

The court found that Dr. Obeta had deceived doctors into believing he was a cousin of the senator’s daughter who urgently required a transplant.

The deputy crown prosecutor and national modern slavery lead at the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), Lynette Woodrow, said the case highlighted an important legal principle that made it irrelevant whether the trafficking victim knew he was coming to the UK to provide a kidney.

“People-trafficking across international borders for the harvesting of human organs is a form of slavery,” said Justice Johnson, who spoke of Mr Ekweremadu’s “substantial fall from grace”.

He said those jailed had left the potential donor facing a “substantial and long-term impact on his daily life”, according to the BBC.

– Victim won’t return to Nigeria

The potential kidney donor has not been named for legal reasons. UK media say he was a street trader in Lagos.

In his statement, the 21-year-old said he used to pray to work or study in the UK. To make it happen, he agreed to medical tests in Lagos and meetings with doctors in London, believing they were required for his UK visa during the Covid pandemic.

He said he only realized what was happening when he met with doctors at the Royal Free Hospital in London exactly one year ago, who began discussing a kidney transplant. He said he would not have agreed to it had he known beforehand, the BBC reported.

He fled to a police station to file a report after the hospital abruptly halted the private £80,000 procedure.

According to his lawyer in Nigeria, the victim is now being assisted by a charity in the UK.

He said he cannot return to Nigeria since “these people are extremely powerful and I worry for my safety.” Despite this, he refused to apply for financial compensation from the Ekweremadu family, stating that he “did not need or want anything from the bad people.”