Former Deputy Senate President of Nigeria, Ike Ekweremadu, charged in the organ harvesting case, is again back in court for trial on Thursday, August 4, after a detention of 43 days.
Ekweremadu, along with his wife, Beatrice Ekweremadu, were arrested in the United Kingdom on June 23 this year by London Met Police officers and were charged with a conspiracy to traffic a minor to the UK to harvest his organs.
As per the prosecutors, the couple has a daughter who is suffering from a disease related to the kidney and has been living on dialysis for quite some time now.
They further added that they think the plan was to use an organ from the boy’s body on their daughter, who immediately required a kidney transplant.
Later on, it was discovered by David Nwamini, who is the alleged victim of trafficking, who told doctors that he was just 15 and was forced by the Ekweremadus into donating his kidney.
On the other hand, it was stated by the government of Nigeria that the alleged victim was of 21 years old and not a minor.
Later, the United Kingdom court of the Westminster Magistrate ruled that he was not a minor.
The Senator and his wife are presently facing charges of plotting to traffick a person for organ harvesting, which is a violation of the Modern Slavery Act 2015.
The case was then transferred to Central Criminal Court in London, which is also known as Old Bailey, where the wife of a former Senator was granted bail on serious terms.
The Senator was rejected bail as he was stated to be a flight risk.
The trial preparation hearing resumed today (Thursday), and the following trial is next year.
