Former deputy president of the Nigerian Senate, Ike Ekweremadu, and his wife, Beatrice, are cooling their heels in prison custody after they were denied bail by Uxbridge Magistrate Court in the United Kingdom.
The lawmaker and his wife are facing trial on charges bordering on human trafficking and organ harvesting.
The lawmaker and his wife are to remain in custody until July 7 when the case was adjourned to for hearing.
The alleged victim in this case, a homeless 15-year-old boy whose identity is yet to be disclosed, was reportedly brought to the UK by Ekweremadu and his wife from the streets of Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital.
The Metropolitan Police yesterday charged the couple with conspiring to arrange to bring the child to the UK to harvest his organ.
The suspects were reportedly arrested near the Heathrow Airport in London.
The Met said the child has been safeguarded.
The couple was also charged with conspiracy to arrange or facilitate travel of another person with a view to exploitation, namely organ harvesting, the Daily Mail also reported.
Organ harvesting involves removing parts of the body, often for commercial gain and against the victim’s will.
The investigation was launched after detectives were alerted to potential offences under modern slavery legislation in May 2022, the force said.
The Metropolitan Police said a child has been safeguarded, but Scotland Yard has not given the gender or the age of the child – or the location of the arrests.
The investigation was launched after detectives were alerted to potential offences under modern slavery legislation in May 2022, the force said.
When contacted, the MET, through its media and communications manager, Chris Humphreys, confirmed the development to LEADERSHIP Friday, stating however that he won’t be providing further details.
In 2017, a former Nigerian government minister claimed that migrants from his country were having their organs harvested after being sold into slavery.
Femi Fani-Kayode, a one-time aviation minister in Nigeria, claimed that 75 per cent of slaves who have their organs harvested in North Africa are from his country.
The Cambridge University-educated lawyer added that the victims have their ‘bodies mutilated’ and are ‘roasted like suya [shish kebabs]’.
He went on: ‘Roasted alive! This is what Libyans do to sub-Saharan Africans who are looking for a transit point to Europe.
“They sell them into slavery and either murder, mutilate, torture or work them to death,” he said.
But Ekweremadu, in his prepared statement, denied allegations of human trafficking for organ harvesting.
Ekweremadu’s position was contained in a British newspaper, dailymail.com.co.uk.
The paper which quoted Ekerenmadu’s lawyer, Gavin Irwin, reported: “He said at no stage has he arranged transport for anyone with intention to exploit them.
His wife similarly denied the allegations in her prepared statement, the court heard.
Irwin, representing Ekweremadu, said further said, “There is no question this is a serious allegation. Mr Ekweremadu is a member of the senate in Nigeria.
“He has previously held an even more senior role as deputy president of the senate. He is a member of the bar in Nigeria. He is a principal in a law firm that bears his name.
“Those issues taken together go way beyond him being a person of good character…rather that he has led a blameless life as a public servant.”
Mr Irwin added that the allegations were ‘nothing short of preposterous.
Antonia Gray, for Mrs Ekweremadu, said “She has never been complicit or involved in any alleged illegal trafficking of any young person. She is a financial accountant with an unblemished record.”
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