Nigeria’s Federal Government has launched a diplomatic push to bring back jailed former Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, from a United Kingdom prison, where he is serving a nine-year sentence for organ harvesting.
A powerful government delegation, led by Foreign Affairs Minister Yusuf Maitama Tuggar and Attorney General Lateef Fagbemi, met with officials of the UK Ministry of Justice in London on Monday to open talks on his possible transfer.
They were later received at the Nigerian High Commission by Acting High Commissioner, Ambassador Mohammed Maidugu, as discussions reportedly centred on humanitarian and legal grounds for his release or sentence review.
According to a senior official, President Bola Tinubu directed the move to explore prisoner-transfer arrangements or compassionate parole.
“We are working on an appeal for a prisoner exchange for him to serve the remainder of his term in Nigeria,” a top official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told Daily Trust.
“Consultations is still ongoing with the UK authorities,” he added.
Ekweremadu, a three-time Deputy Senate President, was convicted by a London court in March 2023, alongside his wife, Beatrice, and a medical doctor, Obinna Obeta.
The trio was found guilty of conspiring to traffic a young Nigerian, David Nwamini, for the removal of his kidney to save the senator’s ailing daughter.
Ekweremadu was sentenced to nine years and eight months behind bars, while his wife and the doctor received lesser sentences.
