President Bola Tinubu has dispatched a high-level delegation to London to discuss the situation of former Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu, who has been serving a prison sentence in the UK since March 2023. The Federal Government is actively pursuing arrangements for Ekweremadu to complete his sentence in Nigeria.
The delegation, which included the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar, and the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, met with UK Ministry of Justice officials on Monday to discuss the case. Following the meeting, they were received by Ambassador Mohammed Maidugu at the Nigerian High Commission in London.
The spokesman for the Foreign Affairs Minister, Alkasim AbdulKadir, confirmed that consultations with UK authorities are ongoing. A formal request for a prisoner transfer has been submitted, as the Nigerian government seeks to facilitate Ekweremadu’s return.
Ekweremadu, alongside his wife, was arrested by the London Metropolitan Police in June 2022 after attempting to present a man as a cousin to their daughter Sonia for a kidney transplant, a scheme detailed to have involved a payment of £80,000. He was subsequently convicted of organ trafficking for trying to bring a 21-year-old Lagos street vendor to the UK for this purpose.
In March 2023, Ekweremadu was found guilty and sentenced to nine years and eight months. His wife, Beatrice, received a four-year and six-month sentence and was released early in 2025. The case has sparked diplomatic discussions between Nigeria and the UK and heightened scrutiny of transplant regulations.
