BREAKING: Ike Ekweremadu sentenced to 10 years in prison

Ike Ekweremadu, former deputy senate president, has been sentenced to 10 years in prison after being found guilty of organ trafficking.

The sentencing was done on Friday at the Central Criminal Court, Old Bailey, UK.

Ekweremadu’s wife, Beatrice, was sentenced to four years and six months in jail.

Background

On March 23, the jury pronounced a guilty verdict on the senator, Beatrice, and Obinna Obeta, a doctor who acted as the middleman.

According to the jury, they conspired to bring the 21-year-old at the centre of the matter to London to exploit him for his kidney.

They were arrested by the London Metropolitan Police in June 2022.

They were alleged to tried to convince doctors at the Royal Free Hospital in London to perform an £80,000 transplant on the donor who was presented as the cousin of their daughter Sonia.

During the trial, Hugh Davies, the prosecutor, told the court that the Ekweremadus and Obeta had treated the man and other potential donors as “disposable assets – spare parts for reward”.

He added that they entered an “emotionally cold commercial transaction” with the 21-year-old, offering him up to £7,000 in reward.

Sonia, Ekweremadu’s 25-year-old daughter, did not enter any defence after presenting the court with a medical report claiming she is unfit for trial. She was not convicted.