President Bola Tinubu has sent a senior delegation to London to explore the possibility of transferring former Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, to Nigeria to complete his prison sentence.
The delegation, led by Foreign Affairs Minister Yusuf Tuggar and Attorney General Lateef Fagbemi, arrived in the UK on Monday and held talks with officials of the UK Ministry of Justice.
According to Tuggar’s spokesperson, Alkasim Abdulkadir, the team’s mission is to engage British authorities on “the potential for Mr. Ekweremadu to serve the remainder of his sentence in Nigeria.”
The visit is said to reflect President Tinubu’s diplomatic commitment to strengthening bilateral justice cooperation between Nigeria and the United Kingdom.
Ekweremadu has been in a UK prison since March 2023 after being convicted under the country’s Modern Slavery Act for organ trafficking. His conviction marked the first of its kind in British legal history.
A Case That Shook Nigeria
The London Metropolitan Police arrested Ekweremadu, his wife, Beatrice, and a medical associate, Dr Obinna Obeta, in June 2022.
They were accused of arranging to bring a 21-year-old Nigerian man to the UK under false pretences for an £80,000 kidney transplant meant for their ailing daughter, Sonia.
The young man later alerted authorities, claiming he was deceived and promised employment instead. The British court found that he was not a willing donor.
In May 2023, Justice Jeremy Johnson sentenced Ekweremadu to nine years and eight months in prison. His wife received four years and six months, while Obeta was handed ten years.
Judge Johnson ruled that Beatrice would serve half her term in custody and the remainder under supervision. She was released in January and has since returned to Nigeria.
Critics Question the President’s Motives
But not everyone believes the president’s motive is altruistic. A social activist and critic, Mahdi Shehu, accused the president of his sudden interest in the incarceration of the former Deputy Senate President,
In a post shared on his official X account on Tuesday, Shehu claimed that Tinubu’s recent decision to set up a high-powered committee to engage the United Kingdom government over Ekweremadu’s imprisonment was not driven by compassion but by political strategy.
According to him, the President suddenly woke up from his diplomatic slumber and remembered Ekweremadu, who has been in prison since his conviction in 2023 for organ trafficking.
Shehu noted that Tinubu’s decision came despite Nigeria currently lacking a substantive ambassador to the UK who, he said, could have handled the matter more effectively through regular diplomatic channels.
Shehu wrote, “The UK justice system is nearly watertight. The opportunity to resolve the Ekweremadu issue was lost long ago.”
He further explained that the only realistic option left for Nigeria was to explore a prisoner transfer agreement if such a treaty exists and has been executed between both countries.
In his view, Tinubu’s action is not a humanitarian gesture but a political calculation.
“My take is that Tinubu is using the Jamboree trip to show he cares and is concerned because the election is approaching, and Ekweremadu is the only visible Ndi-igbo that is not on ‘THE TRAIN’ From Bombay to Goa. And with him on board, Ndi Igbo will finally be captured.
“Other Nigerians convicted or detained at various prisons all over the world will never receive the Ekweremadu attention because even if they are released, they will be of no political value to Tinubu. Such is the visible miscalculation.”
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