UK Rejects FG Request for Ekweremadu to Complete Prison Term in Nigeria

The United Kingdom has declined the Nigerian federal government’s request to allow former Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu to serve the remainder of his prison sentence in Nigeria. Ekweremadu is currently imprisoned in the UK after being convicted of organ trafficking.

In March 2023, he was found guilty of conspiring to exploit a young man for his kidney and subsequently sentenced to nine years and eight months in prison—the first conviction of its kind under the UK’s Modern Slavery Act.

In early November, President Bola Tinubu dispatched a high-level delegation to London to plead Ekweremadu’s case and explore the possibility of securing his transfer under a prisoner-exchange or repatriation arrangement. The delegation included Yusuf Tuggar, Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Lateef Fagbemi, the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice.

However, according to a report by the UK Guardian, which quoted an unnamed official from the UK Ministry of Justice (MoJ), the request was turned down. The official reportedly stated that British authorities were not convinced that Nigeria could provide firm assurances that Ekweremadu would continue serving his sentence upon return.

“A source at the MoJ has confirmed the request was rejected. It is understood that the UK government was concerned that Nigeria could offer no guarantees that Ekweremadu would see out his prison term after being repatriated,” the newspaper reported. It added that any decision on prisoner transfer “is entirely at our discretion and follows a rigorous assessment of whether it serves the interests of justice.”

The decision effectively means that Ekweremadu will remain in the UK to serve his sentence in full unless future diplomatic engagements produce a different outcome.

Background of the Ekweremadu Case

The Ekweremadu family’s legal ordeal began in June 2022 when Ike Ekweremadu, his wife Beatrice, and a medical collaborator were arrested by London’s Metropolitan Police. Their arrest followed an incident at the Royal Free Hospital in London, where a 21-year-old man was falsely presented as a cousin to their daughter, Sonia, in an attempt to secure an £80,000 kidney transplant for her.

The young man, who had reportedly been promised work opportunities in the UK, later reported to the police in May 2022 that he had been brought into the country under false pretences for an organ-harvesting procedure, prompting an investigation that led to the arrests.

In March 2023, a UK court found Ike Ekweremadu, his wife Beatrice, and Dr. Obinna Obeta guilty of organ trafficking, marking the first conviction under the UK’s Modern Slavery Act for an organ-related offence. On May 5, 2023, sentencing was delivered: Ekweremadu received nine years and eight months in prison; his wife was handed a four-year and six-month sentence, with the trial judge, Jeremy Johnson, ordering her to spend half of the term in custody and the remainder on licence; and Dr. Obeta was sentenced to ten years in prison.

In January 2024, Beatrice, having served the custodial portion of her sentence, was released from prison in the UK and subsequently returned to Nigeria.