Abuja: A prominent Nigerian politician and wealthy man, his wife and a medical middleman have been found guilty of organ-trafficking conspiracy. The court has given such a verdict only after its evidence has come to the fore. In this case, it is learned that they brought a 21-year-old man from Lagos to the UK.
In the first such case under modern slavery laws, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, 60, his wife Beatrice, 56, and Dr Obinna Obeta, 50, were convicted of conspiracy to exploit the man for a kidney. The victim, a street trader from Lagos, was brought to the UK last year to provide a kidney in an £80,000 private transplant at the Royal Free Hospital in London.
Prosecutors said he was offered up to £7,000 and promised opportunities in the UK to help, and only realized what was going on when he visited doctors in hospital. It was alleged that the defendants had tried to mislead the medics at Royal Free by saying that he was Sonia’s cousin, who had to be on weekly dialysis.
While donating a kidney is legal, it becomes criminal when there is a reward of money or other material gain. The Royal Free Consultant, Dr Peter DuPont, concluded that the donor was unsuitable, after learning that she had not had any counseling or advice about the risks of surgery and lacked the funds for the lifelong care she would need.
An investigation was launched after the young man fled London and slept at a police station in Staines in Surrey crying and in distress for several days before arriving. Removing his fear, he informed the police about everything. Due to which this organ trafficking case was busted.
Jurors heard Sonia was studying for a master’s degree at Newcastle University when she became ill in December 2019. In 2021, her father enlisted the help of his medically trained brother, Dive Ekweremadu, to find a donor. Diwe Ekweramadu, who lives in Nigeria, turned to Dr Obeta, a former classmate from Southwark, south London, who had recently performed a private kidney transplant at the Royal Free with a Nigerian donor.
Dr. Obeta then spoke with Dr. Chris Agbo of Vintage Health Group, a medical tourism company, as well as an agent who arranged visas for the donor. The victim, who knew the man who donated his kidney to Dr Obeta, was recruited from a Lagos street market where he earned a few pounds a day selling phone accessories from a wheelbarrow.
Following the conviction, Chief Crown Prosecutor Joan Jeckimec described the plot as a sinister conspiracy. Inspector Esther Richardson of the Metropolitan Police praised the victim’s bravery in speaking out against the perpetrators. He said teams from the police, the Crown Prosecution Service and the Human Tissue Authority had worked tirelessly on the case, which is the first time that defendants have been convicted under the Modern Slavery Act of organ-trafficking conspiracy.
