Nigeria’s former deputy Senate President is due to stand trial in the UK on Tuesday along with family members over alleged organ harvesting.
Ike Ekweremadu, 60, is due to appear in court in Old Bailey Tuesday morning on charges along with his wife, daughter and a doctor of bringing a 21-year-old Nigerian man to have his kidney removed.
Prosecutors said the defendants allegedly planned to have a kidney removed from a 21-year-old Nigerian man so that it could be given to the politician’s daughter, Sonia.
The man is said to have raised the alarm after refusing to consent to the procedure following preliminary tests at a north London hospital.
Charges were brought after the man went to police in a city outside London, and the Ekweremadus were arrested at London’s Heathrow Airport in June last year after flying to the UK.
Another man, Obinna Obeta, a 50-year-old south London doctor, was later arrested.
The trial is scheduled to open at 1000 GMT on Tuesday. It was brought forward from a scheduled date in May.
Ekweremadu is a Senator for the opposition People’s Democratic Party for Enugu State in south-eastern Nigeria.
Other allegations
The Ekweremadus and the Doctor are accused of conspiring to arrange another person’s journey for exploitation under British modern slavery legislation.
The alleged crime is said to have taken place between August 2021 and May 2022.
Doctor Obeta was also arrested. Beatrice and Sonia Ekweremadu have been released on bail.