Former Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu, his wife Beatrice, and Doctor Obinna Obeta were sentenced to prison by a judge at The Central Criminal Court, widely known as the Old Bailey.
At a sentencing hearing on Friday, Ekweremadu was sentenced to nine years and eight months in prison, his wife Beatrice to four years and six months, and Obeta to ten years.
The sentence follows their March conviction for organ trafficking. Sonia, the Ekweremadus’ sick daughter, was exonerated of any wrongdoing.
The three were convicted of arranging or aiding a young Nigerian man’s entry into the United Kingdom in order to collect his kidney on Sonia’s behalf.
The jury said Ekweremadu, his wife and their doctor criminally conspired to bring the 21-year-old Lagos street trader to London to exploit him for his kidney.
The conviction is the first under the UK’s Modern Slavery Act 2015.
The sentence was handed down in response to petitions from a number of notable individuals and organisations, including former President Olusegun Obasanjo and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
Other petitioners included both chambers of the National Assembly, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, Chairman/CEO of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), and the International Human Rights Commission (IHRC).
The charges against the Ekweremadus were preferred on June 23, 2022, when their arrest was publicized. Obeta was later charged and arraigned on July 13, 2022. His wife was given bail, but the senator was not.
After months of a pre-trial, the trial commenced on January 31, 2023 and lasted about six weeks, culminating in a guilty verdict against Ekweremadu, Beatrice, and Obeta.
