Former Deputy President of the Nigerian Senate, Ike Ekweremadu has been jailed in the United Kingdom for conspiring to traffic a Lagos market trader to the UK to harvest his kidney.
Ekweremadu, 60, his wife Beatrice, 56, and 25-year-old daughter Sonia stood trial accused of a conspiracy to bring the man to Britain from Lagos for his organ.
Ekweremadu, who was described by the judge as the “driving force throughout”, was sentenced to nine years and eight months in prison.
Dr Obinna Obeta was sentenced to 10 years after the judge found he had targeted the potential donor who was young, poor and vulnerable.
Beatrice Ekweremadu was sentenced to four years and six months due to her more limited involvement.
Justice Johnson told the defendants, “In each of your cases the offence you committed is so serious that neither a fine nor a community sentence can be justified”.
On the question of harm to the victim, the judge said, “The transplant did not go ahead but each intended that it should go ahead and you each intended the harm to the donor that would result.
“He would have faced spending the rest of his life with only one kidney and without the requisite funding for the required aftercare.”
He added that the risks had not been properly explained to the victim and there had been no consent “in any meaningful sense”.
It was reported that the 21-year-old street vendor will receive payment for providing Sonia Ekweremadu with the organ during an £80,000 private treatment at the Royal Free Hospital in London.
It was the first time defendants have been found guilty of an organ harvesting conspiracy under the Modern Slavery Act.