March 23, 2023.
Azonuchechi Chukwu.
After six weeks of trial at the Old Bailey Court, Ike Ekweremadu, former deputy president of the Nigerian senate, his wife, Beatrice, daughter Sonia and Dr Obinna Obeta were found guilty and have been convicted of conspiring to exploit a young man for his kidney in the first such case under modern slavery laws. Naija247news reports.
The Nigerian politician, his wife, and the medical doctor were, on Thursday, March 23, found guilty of an organ-trafficking plot, which saw them bring a 21-year-old man to the UK from Lagos.
According to the trial officer, Davies, Ekweremadu “agreed to reward someone for a kidney for his daughter – somebody in circumstances of poverty and from whom he distanced himself and made no inquiries, and with whom, for his own political protection, he wanted no direct contact”.
Davies added: “What he agreed to do was not simply expedient in the clinical interests of his daughter, Sonia, it was exploitation, it was criminal. It is no defence to say he acted out of love for his daughter. Her clinical needs cannot come at the expense of the exploitation of somebody in poverty.”
Ekweremadu, who denied the charge, told the court he was the victim of a scam. Obeta, who also denied the charge, claimed the man was not offered a reward for his kidney and was acting altruistically. Beatrice denied any knowledge of the alleged conspiracy. Sonia did not give evidence.Davies said Ekweremadu ignored medical advice to find a donor for his daughter among genuine family members.
He said: “At no point in time was there ever any intention for a family member close, medium or distant to do what could be paid for from a pool of donors.”
The judge, Mr Justice Jeremy Johnson, will pass sentence at a later date. (www.naija247news.com).
