The President General of the Coalition of South East Youth Leaders, Goodluck Ibem, has backed the Federal Government’s move to have former Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, serve the remainder of his prison sentence in Nigeria.
Ekweremadu was convicted in the United Kingdom for organ trafficking after attempting to bring a 21-year-old Lagos street vendor to Britain for a kidney transplant for his daughter, Sonia.
He was sentenced to nine years and eight months under the UK Modern Slavery Act in May 2023 and remains in prison, while his wife, Beatrice, received four years and six months and was released early in 2025.
A medical middleman, Dr Obinna Obeta, was sentenced to ten years.
On the latest on Ekweremadu’s case, Alkasim AbdulKadir, spokesperson for Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, confirmed to Arise News on Tuesday that the Federal Government was in consultations with the United Kingdom regarding Ekweremadu’s transfer to a Nigerian correctional facility.
He said, “An appeal for prisoner exchange for him to serve the remainder of his term in Nigeria was tabled before the United Kingdom authorities.”
It was gathered that a Nigerian delegation, including Minister of Foreign Affairs Yusuf Tuggar and the Attorney General and Minister of Justice Lateef Adegbite, met with officials at the UK Ministry of Justice. The delegation was later received at the Nigerian High Commission in London by Acting High Commissioner Mohammed Maidugu.
