The Nigerian senator Ike Ekweremadou is on trial from Tuesday (31/1) in a London court accused of attempting to remove a young man’s kidney to transplant it into his sick daughter.
The 60-year-old former vice president of her Senate Nigeria accused together with his wife, Beatrice Nwaneka Ekweremadu, 56, of transporting to Britain a young man of 21 to have the kidney and to it transplant to their daughter Sonia, 25 years old.
Ekweremadu only said “Yes ma’am” before the Old Bailey to confirm his identity. Sonia, who is also on trial in the same case, was not present in court because she is hospitalized for undisclosed reasons. Her lawyers submitted a psychiatric report stating that she was unfit to stand trial and the hearing was adjourned until the prosecution heard that report.
The alleged victim, after undergoing medical tests at a hospital in north-west London, refused to consent to the transplant and blew it off to alert the police. The Ekuremandou family was arrested at Heathrow Airport in June 2022. The senator was remanded in custody while his wife and daughter were released on parole.
Charges have also been brought against 50-year-old doctor Obina Obeta.
The trial is expected to last seven weeks.
Ike Ekweremadu was first elected to the Senate in 2003. The case caused an uproar on social networking sites and the Nigerian media. Some expressed their support, others their indignation at the allegations. “This case is unbelievable. Where else in the world would there be a (former) vice president of the Senate who is still a senator, has been in prison for 200 days (…) and still receives his salary?” commented the activist Citizen Gbola, of the organization Take It Back, which defends human rights. “What happens; Why hasn’t his status been suspended?’ asked the activist, who was present in court.
Source: News Beast
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