Organ trafficking: UK rejects Nigeria’s request to transfer Ekweremadu

The United Kingdom has rejected Nigeria’s request to transfer former Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu to a Nigerian prison, where he hoped to complete his sentence for organ trafficking.

Ekweremadu, 63, is serving nine years and eight months in the UK after being convicted in 2023—alongside his wife, Beatrice, and doctor, Obinna Obeta—of conspiring to traffic a young Nigerian man to London to harvest his kidney for their daughter.

The landmark case was the first organ-trafficking conviction under the UK’s Modern Slavery Act.

A Nigerian delegation led by Foreign Affairs Minister Yusuf Tuggar met with UK Ministry of Justice officials last week to request Ekweremadu’s repatriation.

However, British authorities declined, citing concerns that they could not be certain the former senator would serve the remainder of his sentence if transferred.

The UK Justice Ministry said prisoner transfers are approved only when they “serve the interests of justice.”

Beatrice Ekweremadu has completed the custodial part of her four-and-a-half-year sentence and is now back in Nigeria.

Obeta is serving a 10-year term, two-thirds of which must be spent in prison.

During the Old Bailey sentencing, the judge described the plot as a “despicable trade” and a “dramatic fall from grace” for Ekweremadu, who was portrayed as the mastermind.

Evidence showed the victim was falsely presented as a family member and offered for an £80,000 transplant before fleeing in fear.

Nigeria’s request has stirred controversy at home, with critics questioning why the government intervened in Ekweremadu’s case while hundreds of other Nigerians remain imprisoned in the UK without similar diplomatic support.

The Nigerian High Commission in London has not commented.