Fellow Nigerian lawmakers have joined the growing chorus of pleas for compassion in the case of Nigerian senator Ike Ekweremadu, who will be sentenced in the United Kingdom on Friday after being found guilty of an organ harvesting plot.
According to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) of the United Kingdom, Ekweremadu, 60, his wife Beatrice, 56, and a middleman Obinna Obeta, 51, were convicted in March of trafficking a 21-year-old Nigerian street trader to the United Kingdom to donate a kidney to the Ekweremadus’ daughter.
On August 21, 2016, an image was shot of the “Lady of Justice” monument in downtown London, which is a 12-foot-tall gold-leaf statue that rests atop the dome of the downtown Criminal Court, also known as The Old Bailey.
The victim was reportedly enticed to the United Kingdom with the promise of a job and a payment of up to £7,000 ($8,810) in exchange for donating a kidney.
The transplant was canceled when a medical professional grew suspicious of the circumstances, according to the CPS, and the victim departed and lived on the streets for several days before reporting the plot to UK police in May.
Ekweremadu, Beatrice, and Obeta will be sentenced to up to ten years in prison on Friday for their involvement in the perpetuation of modern slavery in the United Kingdom.
Some Nigerians sympathized with Ekweremadu and his wife, seeing them as hapless victims trying all in their power to rescue their sick daughter. Ekweremadu has been Nigeria’s deputy senate president for the previous 12 years.
Members of Nigeria’s political elite, including former President Olusegun Obasanjo, petitioned a UK court for compassion before his punishment.
Nigeria’s Senate President Ahmad Lawan allegedly wrote to the British court on Wednesday on behalf of Ekweremadu, begging for them to “temper justice with mercy.”
We are proposing mercy in the sentencing process at this time via this particular intervention. The conviction is final, but we are requesting leniency since this is his first time participating in illegal conduct, according to Lawan.
Femi Gbajabiamila, Speaker of Nigeria’s House of Representatives, described Ekweremadu as “a brilliant lawyer, a distinguished public servant, and a dedicated family man.”
National inter-denominational funeral ceremonies for Nigeria’s separatist leader Odumegwu Ojukwu were performed on March 1, 2012, in Michael Opkara Square in Enugu, southern Nigeria. Senator Ike Ekweremadu (L) of Nigeria stood for the national anthem.
Sidi Mohamed Tunis, the parliament speaker of the West African organization ECOWAS, is said to have written to the chief clerk of the Old Bailey Court begging for the release of Ekweremadus.
Ekweremadu served as the ECOWAS parliament’s speaker from 2011 to 2015.
The UK court, however, rejected the calls for clemency, and numerous Nigerians questioned why renowned politicians would use their platforms to promote a convicted criminal.
According to the anti-corruption organization IPC Justice, “…Nigeria has a reputation for not enforcing laws against political elites, which could lead to the perception of condoning criminal activity if the Speaker advocates for clemency for someone convicted of serious crime.”
The prosecution in the UK has dubbed the Ekweremadus case “a watershed moment.”
