Modern Slavery Act: Senator Ekweremadu bags 9 years in UK prison, makes history

Former Deputy Senate president, Ike Ekweremadu, has been sentenced to jail, for a total of 9 years and 8 months, for conspiring to harvest a man’s kidney.

He was found guilty of arranging the travel of a young man with the intention of exploiting him for his organ.

This is the first time that defendants have been convicted under the Modern Slavery Act of an organ-harvesting conspiracy. The conviction carries a maximum life sentence.

Ekweremadu, who was wearing a burgundy jumper and shirt, was jailed for 9 years and 8 months. His wife, Beatrice, who was wearing a purple shirt and black cardigan, was sentenced to 4 years and six months imprisonment. Dr Obinna Obeta wept as he was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment.

The convicted trio Pulse Nigeria

All you should know about the Ekweremadu organ trafficking case

The victim had been promised an opportunity to work in the UK but was shocked to discover that he had been brought to the country to provide a kidney for the senator's daughter, who has a severe kidney disease.

The victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told the court that he had been offered up to £7,000 and the promise of a better life in the UK.

The Ekweremadus’ 25-year-old daughter, Sonia, who has a severe kidney disease, was present in court alongside her older brother Lloyd and other members of the family.

Sonia Ekweremadu, 25, is accused of conspiracy to arrange the travel of another person with a view to exploitation. (Daily Mail) Pulse Nigeria

During sentencing, Justice Johnson told the defendants that "people-trafficking of human organs is a form of slavery. It treats human beings and their body parts as commodities to be bought and sold. It is a trade that preys on poverty, misery and desperation.”

The victim’s impact statement was read in court, revealing his humble background in a Lagos village where he is the oldest of seven siblings living in a home without electricity or running water.

He was forced to become a street trader to provide for his family when his father fell ill with a heart problem. He sold mobile phone accessories from a wheelbarrow, making at most £7 a day and as little as 50p.

Sonia Ekweremadu posing with the trafficked victim who was almost her organ donor [Metropolitan Police] Pulse Nigeria

He expressed his fear for his safety in Nigeria, saying that he could not return home and that someone had visited his father, asking him to get his son to drop the case.

The court heard that the defendants had tried to convince medics at the Royal Free Hospital in London that the donor was Mrs Ekweremadu’s cousin when, in fact, they were not related.