One of the most prominent leaders in the west African nation of Nigeria and his wife have been detained on suspicion of planning to harvest a child’s organs in the UK, according to report.
This month, Ike Ekweremadu, 60, a People’s Democratic Party official for 19 years who served as the nation’s senate’s deputy president, was held with Nwanneka Ekweremadu, 55.
Since 2003, Mr. Ekweremadu has served as an elected senator in the Abuja-based senate. He entered politics after working as a lawyer for many years. His wife, who is five years his junior, is a doctor and academic who is well-known in Nigeria. Four adult children are reportedly theirs.
Both of them are accused of conspiring to set up or aid the journey of another person with the intention of exploitation, specifically organ harvesting. They have been kept in jail and are scheduled to show up in court today at Uxbridge Magistrates’ Court.
The minor at the center of the suspected conspiracy, according to the Metropolitan Police, is in foster care. Removing body parts from a victim against their choice and frequently for money is called organ harvesting.
Scotland Yard has not disclosed the child’s gender, age, or the place of the arrests. However, it is likely that they were detained at the adjacent Heathrow Airport given that the suspects are due in court in Uxbridge.
After meeting with members of the Nigerian community in Britain in Lincoln about ten days ago, Ekweremadu has been in the UK for at least the previous two weeks.
According to the police, the inquiry was started when investigators received a tip about possible violations of the modern slavery statute in May 2022.
An ex-minister of the Nigerian government alleged in 2017 that migrants from his nation were being sold into slavery and then having their organs extracted.
Former Nigerian aviation minister Femi Fani-Kayode asserted that his nation accounts for 75% of the slaves whose organs are harvested in North Africa.
The victim’s “bodies are mutilated,” the Cambridge-educated attorney continued, and they are “grilled like suya [shish kebabs].” “Roasted alive!” he continued.
Sub-Saharan Africans seeking a transit route to Europe are treated in this way by Libyans.