Former Deputy Senate President of Nigeria, Ike Ekweremadu, has been sentenced to nine years and eight months imprisonment by a United Kingdom court for plotting to harvest a man’s kidney.
His wife, Beatrice, was also sentenced to four years and six months imprisonment, while a medical doctor, Dr. Obinna Obeta, was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment, News About Nigeria gathered.
All three were found guilty of conspiring to arrange the travel of the victim, a young man, with a view to exploiting him for his body parts.
However, the victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has come forward to say that his body parts are “not for sale.”
In a letter addressed to the court, the victim claimed he was lured to the United Kingdom under the pretense of a job opportunity.
The victim revealed 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 full-time when his father fell ill with a heart problem.
He said he was approached with an opportunity to work in the UK, something he had “always dreamed of but never thought would happen.” However, he was shocked to discover the reason for the trip was to harvest his organs to give to Ekweremadu’s daughter, Sonia.
“He [Dr. Obinna Obeta] did not tell me he brought me here for this reason, he did not tell me anything about this. I would have not agreed to any of this, my body is not for sale,” the victim said.
The victim added that he could not return to Nigeria because he worries about his safety.
He claimed someone visited his father in Nigeria and asked him to get the victim, his son, to drop the case.
“I worry for my safety in Nigeria; those people can do anything. I think they could arrest me or kill me in Nigeria,” he said.
He also told the police he did not want to claim compensation from the “bad people” as it would be “cursed and bad luck.”
