After a landmark trial in Britain, a wealthy Nigerian politician and his wife are facing jail for an organ-harvesting plot involving a UK hospital and a vendor from a street market in Lagos.
Senator Ike Ekweremadu, his wife Beatrice, and medical “middleman” Dr Obinna Obeta 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 serious kidney condition, was cleared by the jury, which deliberated for nearly 14 hours.
It is the first time defendants have been convicted under the Modern Slavery Act of an organ-harvesting conspiracy which carried a maximum life sentence, reports Medscape.
Horrific plot to transplant victim’s kidney
Chief Crown Prosecutor Joanne Jakymec said: “This was a horrific plot to exploit a vulnerable victim by trafficking him to the UK for the purpose of transplanting his kidney.
“The convicted defendants showed utter disregard for his welfare, health and well-being and used their considerable influence to a high degree of control throughout, with the victim having limited understanding of what was going on.”
The court heard how the victim, a 21-year-old street trader from Lagos, was flown to the UK last year to provide a kidney to Sonia Ekweremadu for an £80 000 private transplant at the Royal Free Hospital in London.
While it is lawful to donate a kidney, it becomes criminal if there is a reward of money or other material advantage. The prosecution said the donor was offered up to £7 000 and the promise of a better life in the UK.
The defendants initially told medics at the Royal Free that he was their cousin when, in fact, they were not related. When their transplant bid failed, the family switched to Turkey and set about finding more potential donors, the court was told.
An investigation was launched after the young man ran away from London and slept rough for days before walking into a police station in Surrey, crying and in distress.
Recruited from Lagos market
Jurors heard that Sonia Ekweremadu was one of four siblings who had been privately educated in the UK. She was studying for a masters degree at Newcastle University when she became ill in December 2019.
In September 2021, her father, a prominent Nigerian politician, enlisted the help of his medically trained brother, Diwe Ekweremadu, to search for a donor.
Diwe, who remains in Nigeria, turned to former classmate Obeta, of Southwark, south London, who had recently had a private kidney transplant at the Royal Free with a Nigerian donor.
Obeta then engaged with Dr Chris Agbo, of Vintage Health Group, a medical tourism company, as well as an agent, to arrange a visa for the donor, the court heard.
The donor, who knew the man who had donated his kidney to Obeta, was recruited from a Lagos street market where he sold phone accessories from a wheelbarrow.
He underwent tests in Abuja, the capital of Nigeria, before arrangements were made to fly him to the UK last year with a visa.
The court was shown messages in which Ike Ekweremadu discussed with his brother the costs, including the donor fee of millions of naira (Nigerian currency).
Couple told donor not an appropriate candidate
However, Royal Free consultant Dr Peter Dupont concluded that the donor was not an appropriate candidate after learning he had no counselling or advice about the risks of surgery, and he lacked funds for the lifelong care he would need.
Undeterred, a “corrupt interpreter” was enlisted for £1 500 to help at the donor’s second hospital meeting with a surgeon, who agreed with the consultant. On being informed the donor was unsuitable, Sonia Ekweremadu’s family immediately resumed their donor search, the court was told.
The donor told police that he did not understand why he had been taken to the UK.
“I slept outside for three days, looking for someone to help me, save my life.”
In their trial, the defendants claimed they believed the donor was acting “altruistically”.
Beatrice Ekweremadu, who worked in the Nigerian Auditor-General’s office and has a PhD in accountancy, said her husband took care of the household finances and she was not involved in the donor search.
Sonia Ekweremadu, who remains reliant on weekly dialysis, declined to give evidence but it was said on her behalf that she knew nothing of a reward offered to donors.
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