Ekweremadu and his wife were alleged to have provided false information about the kidney donor’s age so as to remove the liability of consent, which in most countries, is 18 years.
By Ishaya Ibrahim, News Editor
The news is all over the place that the Metropolitan Police arrested a former Deputy Senate President of Nigeria, Ike Ekweremadu and his wife, Beatrice, over a plot to harvest the kidney of a 15-year-old boy.
Ekweremadu and his wife have since been arraigned in a British Crown Court, according to reporting by Arise TV correspondent in the UK, and bail denied.
The prosecution alleged that the lawmaker and his wife brought a 15-year-old boy under the false pretext of giving him a good life in the UK, only to organise the harvest of the lad’s kidney, which was thwarted.
According to the prosecution, the potential beneficiary of the kidney was Ekweremadu’s daughter, an 18-year-old, whose details were not disclosed, except that she has been undergoing dialysis and is critically in need of a kidney.
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Ekweremadu and his wife were alleged to have provided false information about the donor’s age so as to remove the liability of consent, which in most countries, is 18 years.
Not much is known about the boy, and the prosecution did not also reveal whether the parents of the boy were in the plan and consented to the plot to remove his kidney. But the drift of the case may require the UK to collaborate with the Nigerian government to establish a case of trafficking since it is one of the charges levelled against Ekweremadu.
Sky News had reported the arrest of the Ekweremadus early today, in this light: “Two people have been charged with conspiring to bring a child to the UK in order to harvest organs, the Metropolitan Police said.
“Beatrice Nwanneka Ekweremadu, 55, and Ike Ekweremadu, 60, have been remanded in custody and will appear at Uxbridge Magistrates’ Court today.
“Charges were brought against the pair, who are from Nigeria, following an investigation by the Metropolitan Police’s Specialist Crime team.
“A child has now been safeguarded.
“The investigation was launched after detectives were alerted to potential offences under modern slavery legislation in May 2022.”