A popular Nigerian politician and former deputy Senate president has been jailed for 9 years for plotting to harvest a man’s kidney.
Following his sentencing, the victim declared: “my body is not for sale.”
Senator Ike Ekweremadu, 60, his wife Beatrice, 56, and medical “middleman” Dr Obinna Obeta, 51, were found guilty at the Old Bailey of conspiring to arrange the travel of a young man with a view to exploiting him for his body part.
The Ekweremadus’ 25-year-old daughter, Sonia, who has a severe kidney disease, was present in court alongside her older brother Lloyd and other members of the Ekweremadu family.
The victim’s impact statement was read in court revealing his humble background in a Lagos village where he is the oldest of seven siblings living in a home without electricity or running water.
He was forced to become a street trader full time moving to the city to provide for his family when his father fell ill with a heart problem. He sold mobile phone accessories from a wheelbarrow making at most £7 a day and as little as 50p.
He said he was approached with an opportunity to work in the UK, something he had “always dreamed of but never thought would happen.”
However, he says he was shocked to discover the reason for the trip was to harvest his organs to give to Sonia.
“He [Dr Obina Obeta] did not tell me he brought me here for this reason, he did not tell me anything about this. I would have not agreed to any of this, my body is not for sale,” the victim, who cannot be named because of legal reasons,” he said.
