The British government has turned down a request from Nigeria to repatriate former Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu, who is serving a lengthy prison term in the United Kingdom for organ trafficking.
Ekweremadu, 63, an influential politician and long-time ally of ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, is currently serving nine years and eight months after a UK court found him guilty in 2023 of conspiring to exploit a young Nigerian man by procuring his kidney for transplant surgery.
He, his wife Beatrice Ekweremadu, and medical practitioner Dr Obinna Obeta were convicted for trafficking the young man to London and attempting to harvest his organ for Ekweremadu’s daughter, Sonia, at a private facility within the NHS system. The case marked the first organ-trafficking conviction brought under the UK’s Modern Slavery Act.
A high-level Nigerian delegation led by Foreign Minister Yusuf Tuggar held discussions with officials at the UK Ministry of Justice last week, formally asking that Ekweremadu be allowed to complete his sentence in a Nigerian correctional facility. According to an MoJ source, the proposal was denied over fears that Britain could not be assured the former lawmaker would serve the remainder of his sentence once transferred.
A spokesperson for the UK government declined to comment on the specifics of the case, noting only that prisoner transfers are approved solely at the discretion of British authorities “after a thorough assessment of whether it serves the interests of justice.” Another official added that the UK maintains a zero-tolerance stance on modern slavery “and offenders will face the full weight of UK law.”
Beatrice Ekweremadu, who received a four-and-a-half-year sentence, has already been released—having served the custodial portion of her term—and has since returned to Nigeria.
During sentencing, Justice Jeremy Johnson condemned the trio’s actions as part of a “despicable trade,” stressing that organ harvesting is a form of slavery that treats human beings as disposable commodities. He described Ekweremadu as the principal architect of the plot, adding that the case represented a “dramatic fall from grace” for the former senator.
The Old Bailey trial exposed worrying gaps in the UK’s safeguards against organ trafficking. In early 2022, the trafficked victim—referred to in court as C—was taken to the Royal Free Hospital in London under the false claim that he was Sonia Ekweremadu’s cousin and had willingly agreed to the £80,000 transplant. Although a medical secretary had been bribed, clinicians ultimately refused to proceed, but the incident was not immediately reported to police.
The scheme unravelled only after the victim fled in fear, believing he might be trafficked again for another transplant in Nigeria. Investigators later discovered that Dr Obeta had himself received a kidney at the same hospital in 2021, allegedly sourced from another trafficked individual. He is serving a 10-year sentence, two-thirds of which must be completed behind bars.
Nigeria’s request to have Ekweremadu returned home has sparked debate within the country, with critics questioning why the government sought intervention in this case while more than 230 Nigerians remain incarcerated in British prisons without similar diplomatic efforts.
The Nigerian High Commission in London has yet to respond to media enquiries.
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