Former Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, has been accused of bringing a street trader to the UK to harvest his kidney because it was “far better to buy one” than find a family member to donate the organ, a court has heard on Thursday, March 9.
Prosecutor Hugh Davies KC accused Ekweremadu, of not approaching family members because he wanted the “medical risk” to go to someone he didn’t know, Sky New reports. Ekweremadu, 60, his wife Beatrice,56, daughter Sonia, 25, and medical “middleman” Dr Obinna Obeta, 50, are on trial at the Old Bailey over an alleged plot to bring a young man to Britain to donate his kidney.
Prosecutors have claimed the 21-year-old street trader from Lagos, was offered up to £7,000 and the promise of a better life if he made the journey to London, posing as Sonia’s cousin to obtain a visa for the UK. Ekweremadu was asked under cross-examination today why he didn’t try to find a suitable match among his family members instead of trying to buy a kidney.
The politician said he believed it was not an option after being told about a conversation between his brother Diwe and Dr Obeta in Sep 2021. Prosecutor Mr Davies said: “On the question of whether a family member could in principle act as a donor, you decided that was not possible based on a reported conversation between your non-nephrologist brother and Dr Obeta, a non-nephrologist?” The defendant said:
“He would have had basic knowledge. I’m not a doctor so if he says so, I believe him.” But Mr Davies said: “All you had to do, rather than rely on a second-hand account from non-nephrologists, was to ask one of the specialists you were consulting whether a family member could donate a kidney. Ekweremadu suggested he had “limited intelligence”.
The prosecutor rejected the claim, saying: “It is incredible. You do not lack intelligence. “The fact is you did not even try to ask Sonia’s cousins, for example, to consider acting as a donor. “What you are saying is you had no intention of anyone in your family – immediate or extended – stepping up to donate a kidney to Sonia. Far better for you to let the medical risk go to someone you don’t know.”
