Organ trafficking: UK rejects FG’s request for Ike Ekweremadu to complete prison term in Nigeria

The UK government has rejected a request by the Nigerian government to deport former Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, who was convicted of organ trafficking, TheGuardian UK reports on Monday. 

Recall that a high-level delegation sent by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu met with officials at the UK Ministry of Justice (MoJ) on November 10, 2025 to discuss Ekweremadu’s case. 

Ekweremadu, 63, is serving a sentence of nine years and eight months after being found guilty in 2023 of conspiring to exploit a man for his kidney.

Ekweremadu, his wife, Beatrice, and a co-conspirator, Dr Obinna Obeta, trafficked a young man to London with a view to harvesting his kidney, which they planned to transplant to Ekweremadu’s daughter Sonia in a private unit of an NHS hospital.

It was the first conviction for organ trafficking under the Modern Slavery Act.

According to The Guardian, the Nigerian government delegation, led by the foreign minister, Yusuf Tuggar,  requested his deportation so he could serve his remaining sentence in Nigeria.

A source at the MoJ has confirmed to the publication the request was rejected. 

It is understood the UK government was concerned that Nigeria could offer no guarantees that Ekweremadu would continue his prison sentence after being deported.

A government spokesperson said it could not comment on individual prisoners. They added: “Any prisoner transfer is at our discretion following a careful assessment of whether it would be in the interests of justice.

“The UK will not tolerate modern slavery and any offender will face the full force of UK law,” a source said. 

Beatrice Ekweremadu, who was sentenced to four years and six months, with half spent in custody, was released earlier this year and has since returned to Nigeria.

In his sentencing remarks, Mr Justice Jeremy Johnson said all three conspirators played a part in a “despicable trade”. He said: “The harvesting of human organs is a form of slavery. It treats human beings and their bodies as commodities to be bought and sold.”

The judge described Ekweremadu as the “driving force” behind the organ-trafficking plot, and said his conviction represented “a very substantial fall from grace”

In February 2022, the young man whom Ekweremadu trafficked to London was taken to a private renal unit at the Royal Free hospital in London. It was falsely claimed that man was Sonia’s cousin and had agreed to the £80,000 transplant.

Despite bribing a medical secretary the attempted transplant by the Ekweremadus was rejected by the hospital in March 2022. But the medics did not report the incident to the police.

The plot was discovered only when the victim, referred to as C in court, fled to the police in fear of his life because he believed he was being lined up by Obeta for another transplant in Nigeria.

Obeta had himself received a kidney transplant at the Royal Free in July 2021 from another man allegedly trafficked from Nigeria. 

He was sentenced to 10 years, two-thirds of which must be served in prison. 

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