UK rejects FG’s request to transfer Ekweremadu back home

The United Kingdom has turned down the Federal Government’s appeal for former Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu to be transferred to Nigeria to serve the remainder of his jail term

Ekweremadu remains in a British correctional facility after his conviction for attempting to procure a kidney from a young man for transplant. The UK court, in 2023, sentenced him to nine years and eight months for conspiring to exploit the victim, a ruling delivered under the Modern Slavery Act.

In a recent diplomatic push, President Bola Tinubu sent a delegation to London to explore the possibility of securing Ekweremadu’s transfer. The delegation, led by Foreign Affairs Minister Yusuf Maitama Tuggar and Attorney General Lateef Olasunkanmi Fagbemi, met with top officials of the UK Ministry of Justice. However, British authorities maintained their position and declined the request.

The engagement comes at a time when judicial cooperation between Nigeria and the UK is under increased scrutiny, especially in cases involving high-profile Nigerian figures facing prosecution abroad.

Ekweremadu, his wife Beatrice, and a medical doctor were convicted in March 2023 for arranging the victim’s travel to the UK with the intention of harvesting his kidney—an offence that made him the first Nigerian public official convicted under that law. The severity of the sentence highlighted how seriously the UK treats offences relating to human exploitation and organ trafficking.

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