The Federal Government has begun diplomatic efforts to facilitate the transfer of former Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, who is currently serving a nine-year prison sentence in the United Kingdom for organ harvesting.
A Nigerian government delegation led by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Maitama Tuggar, and the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, held talks with officials of the UK Ministry of Justice in London on Monday.
The team later met with Ambassador Mohammed Maidugu, Nigeria’s Acting High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, at the Nigerian High Commission in London.
According to sources familiar with the discussions, the visit is part of President Bola Tinubu’s ongoing diplomatic push to explore options for Ekweremadu’s possible early release or transfer to Nigeria on humanitarian and legal grounds.
Officials said talks centered on possible frameworks for a prisoner transfer agreement, compassionate parole, or sentence review within the provisions of UK law.
“We are in talks with the British authorities on the prospect of allowing Senator Ekweremadu to serve the rest of his sentence in Nigeria,”
a senior official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told DAILY GAZETTE.
“Consultations are still ongoing,” the official added.
Ekweremadu, a veteran politician and three-time Deputy Senate President, was convicted in March 2023 by the Old Bailey Court in London along with his wife, Beatrice, and Dr. Obinna Obeta.
The trio was found guilty of conspiring to exploit David Nwamini, a young Nigerian, for the illegal harvesting of his kidney to save the senator’s ailing daughter.
Ekweremadu was sentenced to nine years and eight months in prison following the landmark ruling, the first of its kind under the UK’s Modern Slavery Act.
