From Victor Osula, Abuja
Former Nigerian Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu and his wife, Beatrice have been charged with conspiring to bring a child to the UK in order to harvest organs, the Metropolitan Police said.
Beatrice Nwanneka Ekweremadu, 55, and Ike Ekweremadu, 60, have been remanded in custody and will appear at Uxbridge Magistrates’ Court today, Thursday.
According to Sky News, charges were brought against the pair, who are from Nigeria, following an investigation by the Metropolitan Police’s Specialist Crime team.
A child has now been safeguarded.
The investigation was launched after detectives were alerted to potential offences under modern slavery legislation in May 2022, the force said.
Ike Ekweremadu is former Deputy President of the Senate.
Unconfirmed reports say the couples are a victim of circumstance. They are said to have a child who is down with kidney disease and he needed a transplant. They got a donor and flew to London with him for the surgery. Things got bad when the donour turned out to be an underaged at 15, prompting the doctors to stop the operation. She is still undergoing dialysis in a UK hispital.
Ordinarily, Ekweremadu’s had applied for a Visa for the boy at the British Embassy in Nigeria stating the medical reasons for the trip. The age angle seem to be a serious violation.
When the case came up later on Thursday, he and his wife were remanded in prison on allegation of harvesting organs. He may stay there till July when the case comes up for hearing.
