ECOWAS Parliament Pleads for Leniency as Ekweremadu Awaits UK Court Sentence

ECOWAS Parliament Pleads for Leniency as Ekweremadu Awaits UK Court Sentence

The regional body of West African countries, ECOWAS Parliament, has recently intervened in the case of a former Nigerian lawmaker and his wife who were convicted of organ trafficking in the United Kingdom.

The Parliament has sent a letter to the UK government, urging it to show clemency in the sentencing of Ike Ekweremadu, a former Deputy Senate President of Nigeria, and his spouse, Beatrice, which is scheduled for Friday, May 5, according to PRISTINEGIST.

 

The couple and their medical accomplice, Obiann Obeta, were found guilty by the Old Bailey court in London on March 23, of arranging the travel of a young Nigerian man to Britain for the purpose of exploiting his organs.

The court heard that the man was lured to donate his kidney to Ekweremadu’s ailing daughter, Sonia, who needed a transplant.

The Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament, Sidie Mohamed Tunis, in a letter dated April 6, 2023 and addressed to the Chief Clerk of The Central Criminal Court, appealed to the court to consider the humanitarian and diplomatic implications of the case and exercise leniency in its judgment.