By Ade Johnson-
A South London doctor has been accused of plotting with a wealthy Nigerian senator and his wife to traffic a homeless man into the UK to harvest a kidney for their daughter, a court heard today.
Obinna Obeta, 50, from Southwark, south London, has been charged under the Modern Slavery Act with arranging the travel of a 21-year-old man with a view to him being exploited between August last year and this May.
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A second charge alleges he conspired with Nigerian politician Ike Ekweremadu to arrange or facilitate the travel of the man with a view to him being exploited. Obeta’s case was heard by Bexley Magistrate’s Court on July 13 and sent to the Old Bailey in Central London for trial.
The doctor is charged under the Modern Slavery Act, with arranging the travel of a 21-year-old man-David Ukpo- with a view to him being exploited between August last year and this May.
Prosecutors allege that Ike Ekweremadu, 60, a district senator and lawyer, and his wife, Beatrice Nwanneka Ekweremadu, 55, brought the 21-year-old man from Nigeria to the UK.
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Prosecutors claim the senior Nigerian politician and his wife planned to have his kidney removed so it could be given to their daughter.
However, their plan was intercepted following a tip off which led to a careful surveillance by the British police, before he was arrested and charged on June 21 after arriving on a flight from Turkey. Cops also seized £20k cash they found in the politician’s possession.
The young man is said to have refused to consent to the procedure after undergoing tests at the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead, north-west London, exposing what is believed to have been poorly planned arrangement by the accused Nigerian politician.
The Ekweremadus allegedly treated the young man as a slave before he escaped and went to Staines police station in Surrey.
Ukpo’s age has changed three times since his arrival at Uk. The passport the young man used to travel originally claimed he was 15 years of age, but a man who claimed to be the man’s younger brother later told the Nigerian Vanguard news outlet that he was in fact 25 years of age. Eventually, a biodata on his Nigerian bank accounts and the National Identity Management Commission NIMC confirmed the man to be 21 years old.
Some Nigerians from very poor backgrounds do not know their true age, especially those with parents in rural villages who lived far from hospitals and had no transport when they gave birth. Some of such parents kept no record of their children’s age, leaving their children to try and work out their ages in adulthood from memory, especially for illiterates who don’t go to school.
Children from such backgrounds who attend school make up a date of birth
One former Nigerian president today told reporters he did not know his own real age.
Some people believe the politician’s alleged victim may have a date of birth that is officially to that claimed by his younger brother which is likely to be more accurate unless he had a hidden motive for lying.
Mr Ekweramadu is a member of the the PDP party in Nigeria- a party currently mired in scandal, controversy, and corruption. He has a law firm in his own name, and very knowledgeable in the legal profession. He may need all that knowledge combined with that of his legal representatives to have any chance of getting out of his ugly situation.
Last month, Lincoln University in the Uk suspended Nigerian lawmaker Ike Ekweremadu from his duties as a visiting professor.
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