UK reject Nigeria’s request to transfer Senator Ike Ekweremadus Prison term to Nigeria

UK reject Nigeria’s request to transfer Senator Ike Ekweremadus Prison term to Nigeria

The United Kingdom government has refused Nigeria’s appeal to allow Ike Ekweremadu, former deputy senate president, to serve the remainder of his prison sentence in Nigeria.
Ekweremadu is currently serving nine years and eight months in a UK prison, following his March 2023 conviction for organ trafficking. He was found guilty of conspiring to exploit a 21-year-old man’s kidney.
Earlier this month, President Bola Tinubu sent a high-level delegation to London to negotiate the possibility of transferring Ekweremadu to serve his sentence in Nigeria. The team included Yusuf Tuggar, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Lateef Fagbemi, Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice.
However, the UK Guardian, citing an unnamed Ministry of Justice (MoJ) official, reported that the request had been rejected. “A source at the MoJ has confirmed the request was rejected. It is understood the UK government was concerned that Nigeria could offer no guarantees that Ekweremadu would continue his prison sentence after being deported,” the newspaper quoted.
The official added, “Any prisoner transfer is at our discretion following a careful assessment of whether it would be in the interests of justice. The UK will not tolerate modern slavery and any offender will face the full force of UK law.”
Ekweremadu, his wife Beatrice, and doctor Obinna Obeta were arrested by the London Metropolitan Police in June 2022. They allegedly tried to persuade medical staff at Royal Free Hospital to carry out an £80,000 kidney transplant, presenting the victim as a relative of the Ekweremadu family. The 21-year-old man, promised employment in the UK, reported the scheme to police in May 2022.
In March 2023, a UK court convicted all three under the UK Modern Slavery Act, marking the first organ trafficking verdict of its kind in the country. On May 5, 2023, the court sentenced Ike Ekweremadu to nine years and eight months, Beatrice Ekweremadu to four years and six months, and Obeta to 10 years. The trial judge, Jeremy Johnson, ordered that Beatrice serve half of her sentence in custody and the remainder on licence. She was released and returned to Nigeria in January 2025.