For Senator Ike Ekweremadu, Thursday turned out to be a sobering day as he, with his wife Beatrice, was formally charged with an alleged plot to facilitate the harvest of a child’s organs in the United Kingdom. The charge, if found to be true, could land the couple life imprisonment as provided under the UK’s Modern Slavery Act 2015 (MSA 2015).
As news of the arraignments broke through social media platforms that were soon confirmed by traditional media platforms, all hell was let loose, with various interpretations unleashed on cyberspace. The couple was arraigned before the Uxbridge Magistrate’s Court, following their arrest and investigation by the London Metropolitan Police’s Specialist Crime team.
According to a statement released by the police: “(A) Beatrice Nwanneka Ekweremadu, 55 (10.9.66) of Nigeria is charged with conspiracy to arrange/facilitate travel of another person with a view to exploitation, namely organ harvesting.
“(B) Ike Ekweremadu, 60 (12.05.62) of Nigeria is charged with conspiracy to arrange/facilitate travel of another person with a view to exploitation, namely organ harvesting”.
Under the United Kingdom’s Modern Slavery Act 2015, human trafficking, under which organ harvesting is perpetrated, is an offence punishable with maximum sentence of life imprisonment upon conviction.
“Under S. 2, an individual commits an offence, if they arrange or facilitate the travel of another with a view to that person being exploited? It is irrelevant whether that person consents to the travel, or whether they are a child or an adult.
“Under S. 3 of MSA 2015, exploitation includes: slavery, servitude and forced or compulsory labour; sexual exploitation (which involves the commission of an offence under s 1(1)(a) of the Protection of Children’s Act 1978 (indecent photographs of children), or Pt 1 of SOA 2003 (eg, rape or sexual assault); removal of organs where a person is encouraged required or expected to do anything which involves the commission of an offence under ss 32 or 33 of the Human Tissue Act 2004 (prohibition of commercial dealings in organs and restrictions on use of live donors); securing services etc by force, threats or deception; securing services etc from children and vulnerable persons (eg, physically or mentally ill or disabled),” the MSA Act 2015 states.
As news of the arraignment broke out on Thursday, efforts were deployed by sympathisers of the Ekweremadus, through the release of a letter to the British High Commission, purportedly written by the former Deputy Senate President, dated December 2021, in support of a visa applicant slated for “medical investigation for a kidney donation to his daughter”.
The arraignment of the former DSP and his wife, according to prosecutors, was hinged on facilitating the bringing of “a 15-year-old boy from Nigeria to the UK with the claim that he was to be given a better life, but they were actually meant to harvest his organ”.
The prosecutors told the court that Senator Ekweremadu procured a passport for the boy and claimed he was 21-year old, but discovered that he was 15. The intention of bringing the 15-year old, the prosecutors told the court, was to harvest the minor’s organs for the DP’s daughter that is suffering a kidney-related disease and had been on dialysis for some time.
While tongues have continued to wag over the allegation, another source claimed that the Ekweremadus were arrested on their way to procure another organ donor after the minor’s organs did not match that of their daughter. As the debate over the propriety or otherwise action of the Ekweremadus continues unabated, not a few are calling for restraint on apportioning blame until the determination of the matter by the court.
Hopefully, the case is due to come up in less than two weeks as the resumed hearing on the matter is due for July 7. However even as many believe that there are many things yet to be explained on the matter, some are asking why Ekweremadu, who is a lawyer and knowledgeable in things regarding the law, could whimsically allow himself to be involved in an affair that has the capacity to damage his reputation and that of his family.
Ekweremadu is not only a father of a child; he has more than two children. Apart from writing to support a visa application of a 21-year old, who is now allegedly claiming to be 15, why did the Enugu-born politician not explore the open market to source for a kidney for his daughter if he never wanted to temper that with his other children? It is a public secret that the global organ market has laid-down procedures on how to procure one. Why avoid it and resort to a backdoor arrangement?
Procuring a kidney from the open market may be costly, but it would have eliminated mud-throwing exercise on his personality. Even if he was incapable of raising the required sum of money to acquire a kidney in the open market, Ekweremadu possesses the password to unlock favours from the corridor of power in order to acquire a kidney for his sick daughter.
Organ Harvesting: My Family Is With Ekweremadus – Peter Obi
The impression among many Nigerians on the matter is that the former DSP resorted to unethical means to get a solution to the health challenge of his daughter. That the so-called 15-year old, who is now alleged to be 21, was allegedly lured into the UK for organ harvest reveals there is more to it than meets the eye. If the travel papers that brought the 21-year old to the UK say he is 15-years, then, he is a minor. What that implies is that parental consent is required for his organs to be harvested. Did the Ekweremadus obtain such parental consent? If the minor in question is 21-year old, who then was involved in the falsification of his age? Wherever the pendulum swings to, the Enugu-born politician and his wife would have to prove their innocence in court.
Another twist to the unfolding incident is that the 21-year old, upon discovering his kidney did not match that of Ekweremadu’s daughter, approached the authorities and turned himself in. Not wanting to return home after bidding farewell to his fatherland, returning to his country without enjoying the promised better was an unthinkable option. One thing is certain: the kidney donor may have fallen out of favour with his benefactors, and, therefore, was determined not to succumb to pressure from his benefactors to return to Nigeria; a country he now dreads.
In the flood of discordant tunes that has trailed the incident; it is apparent to understand why some people have no compassion, but venom for Ekweremadu who is seen as a metaphor for the ruling elite. In a nation where the health sector has collapsed and getting medical treatment has now become the exclusive right of the ruling class, the bourgeoning gap between the haves and haves-not reflects the class identification and struggle in a nation devoid of hope but filled with uncertainties.
Certainly, these are no pleasant times for the Ekweremadus who have been remanded in prison to await their day in court. The pains of parents as they battle for the health of their child could turn out unbearably excruciating, but to portray same parents as engaging in unethical practices by undoing the health of another child to fix their child’s health introduces a creepy scenario that calls for public condemnation.
Less than 48 hours after the arraignment of the Ekweremadus, there are yawning holes to be filled in the story. Insisting that the couple is guilty as charged is an early decision that may turn out false. Stories from both sources would; no doubt, assist to set the record straight and expose the underbelly of what actually took place in Nigeria in the weeks ahead. Fortunately, the UK is not Nigeria where the truth can be muzzled to set free the ‘big man’. The truth of the matter is in the womb of time.
As the Ekweremadus return to the dock on July 7, will they survive the gale of negative comments on them or will they be condemned into dustbin of ignominy as parents who pulled all stops to support their child by taking advantage of a poverty-stricken minor for the survival of their daughter? July 7 is not too far, as the clock ticks to the resumed hearing of a matter that has not only attracted the attention of Nigerians, but also the global community.
