The House of Representatives has passed a resolution urging the UK government and parliament to intervene in the sentencing of Nigerian lawmaker Ike Ekweremadu and his wife, Beatrice, who was found guilty of organ trafficking in March.
During a plenary session on Tuesday, lawmakers called on the UK court to show “temperance and mercy” in the sentencing of Ekweremadu, a former deputy senate president and requested that the Nigerian government take diplomatic steps to intervene in the trial.
The resolution was adopted following the passage of a motion of urgent public importance sponsored by Toby Okechukwu, a lawmaker from Enugu.
The clerk of the lower legislative chamber was asked to convey the resolutions in writing to the British Embassy, the UK government, and parliament.
The Ekweremadus were arrested by the London Metropolitan Police in June 2022 for allegedly attempting to convince doctors at the Royal Free Hospital in London to perform an £80,000 transplant on a 21-year-old donor, presented as their daughter Sonia’s cousin.
The couple was found guilty of conspiring to exploit the donor for his kidney, while their daughter was cleared of the charges.
During the trial, the Ekweremadus apologized for claiming that the donor was a relative. Prosecutor Hugh Davies told the court that the couple had treated the man and other potential donors as “disposable assets – spare parts for reward”.
The verdict was the first of its kind under the UK Modern Slavery Act 2015, and Ekweremadu is due to be sentenced on May 5 at the Central Criminal Court, Old Bailey in the UK.
The resolution passed by the House of Representatives indicates a growing concern over the case in Nigeria, and an attempt to influence the sentencing of the lawmaker.
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