By Ben Kerrigan And Martin Cole-
Nigerian politician, Ike Ekweremadu, has been jailed for 9 years in the UK Friday after being found guilty of an organ harvesting plot, but fellow lawmakers in his country have joined growing calls for leniency in his case.
Ekweremadu, 60, his wife Beatrice, 56, and a middleman Obinna Obeta, 51, were found guilty in March of trafficking a 21-year-old Nigerian street trader to the UK to provide a kidney for the Ekweremadus’ daughter, Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said in a statement.
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In a landmark case, stinking rich Senator, Ike Ekweremadu, 60, his wife Beatrice, 56, and medical “middleman” Dr Obinna Obeta, 51, were found guilty at the Old Bailey in March.
It is the first time anyone has been convicted under the Modern Slavery Act of an organ-harvesting conspiracy.
In a televised sentencing on Friday, Mr Justice Johnson recognised Ike Ekweremadu’s “substantial fall from grace” as he jailed him for nine years and eight months.
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Beatrice Ekweremadu was jailed for four years and six months, and Obeta for 10 years.
Prosecutors told the court the victim was brought to the UK after being offered a reward of up to £7,000 ($8,810) and the promise of work in the country, but he was unaware that he was expected to provide a kidney in return.
A medical consultant called off the planned transplant after becoming suspicious of the circumstances surrounding it and the victim fled, sleeping rough for days before reporting the plan to UK police last May, the CPS said.
Mr Justice Johnson told the defendants: “In each of your cases the offence you committed is so serious that neither a fine nor a community sentence can be justified.”
Senator Ike Ekweremadu (left), with his wife Beatrice (centre) and medical ‘middleman’ Dr Obinna Obeta, (right)Credit: PA Media
Rewarded
It was alleged the 21-year-old street trader was to be rewarded for donating the organ to Sonia Ekweremadu, in an £80,000 private procedure at London’s Royal Free Hospital.
According to the consultant, the young boy had a “limited understanding” of why he was there and was “visibly relieved” at being told the operation would not go ahead.
It was claimed the man was falsely presented as Sonia Ekweremadu’s cousin in a failed attempt to persuade medics to carry out the procedure at the Royal Free Hospital.
The donor cannot be identified for legal reasons.
Intended harm To Donor
On the question of harm to the victim, the judge said: “The transplant did not go ahead but each intended that it should go ahead and you each intended the harm to the donor that would result….
“He would have faced spending the rest of his life with only one kidney and without the requisite funding for the required aftercare.”
He added that the risks had not been properly explained to the victim and there had been no consent “in any meaningful sense”.
The case marked the first time defendants have been convicted under the Modern Slavery Act of an organ harvesting conspiracy.
While it is lawful to donate a kidney, it becomes criminal if money or another material advantage is rewarded.
The prosecution claimed the donor was offered up to £7,000 along with the promise of a better life in the UK.
The donor did not understand until his first appointment with a consultant at the hospital that he was there for a kidney transplant, the Old Bailey was told.
Nigerian Politicians Call For Clemency
Ekweremadu was a former deputy senate president for 12 years and his case has elicited sympathy with some in Nigeria where many see him and his wife as victims of circumstance who were desperate to help their sick daughter.
Many of the country’s political wrote to the UK courts appealing for leniency during his sentencing, including Nigeria’s former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
President of the Nigerian Senate, Ahmad Lawan, confirmed on Wednesday that he had written to the British judiciary on behalf of Ekweremadu asking them to “temper justice with mercy.”
“We are now using this particular intervention to seek for clemency in the sentencing. … The conviction has already been done but we are seeking clemency because this is the first time our colleague is getting involved in this kind of thing,” Lawan said.
Femi Gbajabiamila, the Speaker of Nigeria’s House of Representatives, the country’s junior parliament, described Ekweremadu as “a brilliant lawyer, a distinguished public servant and a dedicated family man.” The speaker made no reference to why the brilliant lawyer violated the law in the Uk.
Ekweremadu served as speaker of the ECOWAS parliament between 2011 and 2015.
The several calls for clemency may have influenced the court to give him the lower end of and of the sentencing guideline for this offence.
The act partly reads, “Under s 2, an individual commits an offence if they arrange or facilitate the travel of another with a view to that person being exploited. It is irrelevant whether that person consents to the travel, or whether they are a child or an adult.
Under the Uk 2015 Modern Slavery Act, organ slavery is punishable with a maximum of 9 years imprisonment.
Wealthy Ekweramadu owns at least 10 properties in the West.
Last November, the Nigerian Government moved to seize 40 other properties owned by the politician
In a statement read to court, the victim said: “I would never (have) agreed to any of this.
“My body is not for sale.”
He spoke of his fears for his own safety and that of his family in Nigeria who had been visited and told to “drop” the case.
He said: “I cannot think about going home to Nigeria.
“These people are extremely powerful and I worry for my family.
“Even though I live here in the UK at the moment I know I need to be careful too.
“I have no-one here, no family, no friends.
“I am having to start my life again.
“I’m worried about my family in Nigeria but I have been told my dad had been visited and was told to drop the case in the UK.”
He told police he did not want to claim compensation from the “bad people” as it would be “cursed and bad luck”.
He said: “My plan now is to work and to get an education and to play football.”
Police have highlighted soaring numbers of modern slavery cases in recent years with a small number involving organ harvesting.
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