Three-time deputy senate president Ike Ekwerwmadu was found guilty of organ trafficking by a UK court on March 23, 2023. The wealthy Nigerian politician was acquitted alongside his wife, Beatrice Ekweremadu, and their medical middleman, Dr Obinna Obeta. Their conviction comes after an intense six-week trial at the Old Bailey Court, London, where the jury found that they criminally conspired to bring a 21-year-old Lagos street trader to London to exploit him for his kidney.
In June of 2022, the former senator from Enugu state graced the headlines of news and media outlet worldwide after he, his wife, his daughter, Sonia, and Dr Obeta were charged in UK Magistrate’s Court for conspiring to arrange the travel of a 21-year-old from Lagos trader into the UK to harvest his organs. Their daughter, Sonia, a 25-year-old student in the UK battling chronic kidney disease, was supposed to be the beneficiary of the organ following a private transplant at the Royal Free Hospital in London worth 80 thousand pounds.
On the other hand, the street trader, David Nwaminu Ukpo, was kept in the dark. Dr Obeta, as the middleman in the organ trafficking deal, promised David opportunities in the UK. Only after he arrived did he realize they would harvest his kidney illegally.
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