Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has waded into the legal travails of a former Deputy Senate President of Nigeria, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, in the United Kingdom over crime of conspiracy to harvest the organ of a 21-year-old Nigerian.
In a letter dated April 3, 2023 and addressed to the Chief Clerk of the Court titled ‘Re: Ike Ekweremadu’, said even though the Enugu West Senator’s action was condemnable and unacceptable, he has contributed his qouta to the socio-political development of Nigeria, and that the UK government tempers justice with Mercy. The former President said the UK government should consider Ekweremadu’s past records of good deeds and the plight of his ailing daughter before serving any punishment on him and his wife.
Senator Ike Ekweremadu, his wife, Beatrice, and their doctor, Obinna Obeta will be sentenced on May 5 after they were convicted of organ trafficking, in the first verdict of its kind under the Modern Slavery Act in the United Kingdom. They were found guilty of facilitating the travel of a 21-year-old Lagos street trader to London to exploit him for his kidney.
