Ekweremadu, his wife Beatrice and their doctor, Obinna Obeta, will know their fate today, as they are sentenced various jail terms by the Old Baileys Court, London, over organ trafficking.
By Emma Ogbuehi
Former Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu; his wife Beatrice and their doctor, Obinna Obeta, will know their fate today, as they are sentenced to various jail terms by the Old Baileys Court, London.
The trial judge, Mr. Justice Jeremy Johnson, had fixed today to pass sentence on the three. They were in March, this year, convicted of organ trafficking, in the first verdict of its kind under the Modern Slavery Act.
Their sentence comes on the heels of various pleas for clemency, initiated by the former President, Olusegun Obasanjo, later followed by the Senate, Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Court, and his Mpu, Enugu State community.
Obasanjo, in an emotional letter, begged the Chief Clerk of the Central Criminal Court in London to temper justice with mercy.
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In the letter dated April 3, 2023, and addressed to the Chief Clerk of the Court titled ‘Re: Ike Ekweremadu’, the former President noted that the Senator has contributed his quota to the socio-political development of Nigeria, and that the crime in question was committed to save the life of his daughter.
Obasanjo said: “Mr. Chief Clerk, I am very much aware of the current travails and conviction of Ike Ekweremadu and his wife in the United Kingdom resulting from their being charged with conspiring to arrange the travel of a 21-year old from Nigeria to the UK in order to harvest organs for their daughter. I do realise the implications of their action and I dare say, it is unpleasant and condemnable and can’t be tolerated in any sane or civilized society.
“However, it is my fervent desire that for the very warm relations between the United Kingdom and Federal Republic of Nigeria; for his position as one of the distinguished Senators in the Nigerian Parliament, and also for the sake of their daughter in question whose current health condition is in danger and requires an urgent medical attention, you will use your good offices to intervene and appeal to the court and the government of the United Kingdom to be magnanimous enough to temper justice with mercy and let punishment that may have to come take their good character and parental instinct and care into consideration.
“I do hope Mr. and Mrs. Ekweremadu have learnt from this distressing experience of theirs to guide their future actions or inactions so they will continue to be outstanding members of their community and will continue to contribute fully to the good of the society in particular and the nation in general,” Obasanjo stated.
Ekweremadu, 60; his wife, Beatrice, 56; and Dr Obeta, 51, were found guilty of facilitating the travel of a young man to Britain with a view to his exploitation after a six-week trial at the Old Bailey.
They criminally conspired to bring the 21-year-old Lagos Street trader to London to exploit him for his kidney, the jury found, according to UK Guardian.
The prosecutor Hugh Davies KC told the court the Ekweremadus and Obeta had treated the man and other potential donors as “disposable assets – spare parts for reward”. He said they entered an “emotionally cold commercial transaction” with the man.
The behaviour of Ekweremadu, a successful lawyer and founder of an anti-poverty charity who helped draw up Nigeria’s laws against organ trafficking, showed “entitlement, dishonesty and hypocrisy”, Davies told the jury.
He said Ekweremadu, who owns several properties and had a staff of 80, “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.