Senator Ike Ekweremadu, his wife Beatrice Ekweremadu and the doctor, Obinna Obeta have each been convicted for the offence of conspiracy to commit human trafficking. They brought a young man to London to exploit him by proposing to give him money, coupled with facilitating his stay and getting a job in London for the donation of one of his kidneys on behalf of their sick daughter, Sonia.
People trafficking across international borders for the harvesting of human organs is a form of slavery. It treats human beings and their body parts as commodities to be bought and sold. It is a trade that preys on poverty, misery and desperation. The evidence shows that those who are impoverished and often living in multidimensional poverty desperate for a better life and ignorant of the true risks are sometimes willing to donate their organs for money or the chance to work in the UK. Significant risks are attached to such without proper care.
Judge Jeremy Johnson, in delivering the judgment said that they each played a part in that despicable trade. Obinna Obeta in the past, underwent a kidney transplant at the Royal Free hospital in London in 2021 and said that himself and the donor were cousins, which was a lie. The clinicians at the Royal free and the independent assessors at the Human Tissue Authority were taken in by the lies of Obinna. They believed that the donor was acting altruistically as a good Samaritan. The transplant went ahead. There is no evidence that the donor was given the necessary aftercare. It is not necessary for the judge to make a finding as to whether Obinna exploited the donor. However, what is clear is that you learn from your experience that it was possible to manipulate and corrupt the regulatory system by using a fabricated affidavit by lying about his relationship with the donor and by coaching the donor to lie.
The Senator and his wife have a daughter Sonia who’s very ill, suffering from FSGS Nephrotic syndrome and needs a kidney transplant. Everybody has enormous sympathy for her and the impact on the family. Sonia’s uncle Diwe Ekweremadu knew Obinna Obeta from medical school and got in touch. Obinna then offered to get a donor and a possible donor was then identified. By law, his name will not be published, as his identity will be reserved for some reasons including for his safety.
The donor grew up in a village where he had no electricity or running water. He left school at the age of 15 and went to Lagos where he sold phone accessories from a wheel barrow in a market. He was earning about N3,500 (three and half thousand naira) a day, which is about just 7 pounds. Tests in Nigeria shows that his blood group was the same as Sonia and so he agreed to come to the UK but the court is very certain that the donor did not intend to carryout the donation altruistically.
“There was no reason why he should do so”, Judge Jeremy said, as he was not related to the family of Ekweremadu and did not know Sonia or any member of the family. Nothing was put in place to support his future healthcare needs if he donated his kidney. The wealth and power in equality and disparity between the donor and the Ekweremadu family could not have been more marked. The court further pointed out that Ekweremadu is a Senator in Nigeria, has many staffs, owns multiple properties across the globe and more than 400,000 pounds went into his account in a period of 6 months. Unlike the donor who cannot afford a 20 pound fare to travel from Lagos to Abuja. “You each conspired together to bring the donor to UK in order to exploit him. You all knew it was unlawful”, the Judge said.
Ikweremadu was also a Senator in Nigeria that made this same act of human trafficking an offence in Nigeria but still went ahead to commit the offence knowing the full extent of the consequences. Obinna Obeta secured the visa and said that the donor and Sonia, Ekweremadu’s daughter are cousins, which is the same lie he, Obinna had told in the past. To further add salt to injury, Obinna fabricated an affidavit where he testified that Sonia and the donor are indeed cousins.
Obinna also asked Ekweremadu family to pay the donor a fee of N3.5 million naira but the jury rejected that this money was for his loss of earnings. The evidence suggests that a corrupt relationship was established. The clinicians at the Royal Free hospital refused to perform the operation for the kidney transplant because there were concerns about the donor’s age and ethnicity. The doctors, after interviewing the donor were concerned that the donor was not motivated and physically mature to be an organ donor so the transplant was not approved. The court went further to implore clinicians to report situations like these to the police whenever there are suspicious circumstances like these in order to help curb human trafficking. Obvious indicators in the situation were: the donor was not really the cousin of Sonia and they lied about it, the donor did not really understand the risk he was taking and did not have the complete understanding of the consequences.
When the hospital decided not to go ahead with the transplant, there was a sinister development; a consultant and another man examined the donor at the place where he was being kept but did not know the true purpose of the examination. The donor then believed that he was going to be taken back to Nigeria for the transplant to be conducted there. On the 3rd of May, when the donor was meant to return to Nigeria, he ran away. He spent two nights sleeping rough. On the 5th of May about a year ago, he went to the police station and told a police enquiry officer and a detective who then carefully listened to the donor. They also made arrangements to protect the donor. Subsequently, Ekweremadu, his wife, Beatrice Ekweremadu and the doctor were all arrested, charged, prosecuted and convicted.
The court was about to give a compensation on behalf of the donor but he refused to be compensated. The police said that the donor spoke with moral conviction despite knowing the benefits of the compensation considering his circumstance.
They were finally sentenced as follows:
Obinna Odetta - 10 years (2/3 in custody and the remaining on license)
Ike Ekweremadu - 9 years and 8 months (2/3 in custody and the remaining on license )
Beatrice Ekweremadu - 4 years 6 months (1/2 in custody and the remaining on license).
Comments