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By Lizzy Chirkpi
The United Kingdom has turned down the Nigerian government’s request to repatriate former Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu to complete his nine-year, eight-month prison sentence in Nigeria.
Ekweremadu was convicted in March 2023 by a London jury at the Old Bailey, alongside his wife, Beatrice, and medical facilitator Dr. Obinna Obeta, for conspiring to traffic a 21-year-old Nigerian man to the UK for the purpose of harvesting his kidney for their ailing daughter.
On May 5, 2023, Justice Jeremy Johnson handed Ekweremadu a sentence of nine years and eight months.
Prosecutors told the court the plot amounted to a “despicable trade” comparable to modern slavery. The young donor, who was promised employment in the UK and up to £7,000, later discovered he was being recruited for an organ-trafficking operation. Court documents revealed that Ekweremadu deliberately targeted someone young, poor, and isolated, a factor that weighed heavily during sentencing.
Justice Johnson described Ekweremadu as the driving force behind the conspiracy. His conviction was seen as particularly striking given his past involvement in crafting Nigeria’s own anti–organ trafficking legislation. Dr. Obeta received a 10-year sentence, while Beatrice Ekweremadu was sentenced to four years and six months.
In November 2025, President Bola Tinubu dispatched a high-level delegation to London to negotiate the possibility of Ekweremadu serving the remainder of his sentence in Nigeria. The delegation was led by Foreign Affairs Minister Yusuf Tuggar and Attorney-General and Minister of Justice Lateef Fagbemi.
However, the UK government refused the request. According to The Guardian UK, an unnamed Ministry of Justice official confirmed that the proposal had been reviewed and rejected.
“Any prisoner transfer is at our discretion following a careful assessment of whether it would be in the interests of justice,” the official was quoted as saying.
The source added that “The UK will not tolerate modern slavery and any offender will face the full force of UK law.”
UK authorities reportedly expressed doubt that Nigeria could guarantee Ekweremadu would serve the remainder of his sentence under equivalent conditions, particularly given the gravity and modern-slavery implications of the offence.
The rejection marks a major setback for Nigeria’s diplomatic efforts and means Ekweremadu will continue serving his sentence in the United Kingdom.