President Bola Tinubu has dispatched a high-level delegation to London to engage British authorities on the possible transfer of former Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, to Nigeria to serve the remainder of his prison sentence.
The delegation, which includes the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar, and the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, arrived in the UK on Monday and held discussions with officials of the United Kingdom’s Ministry of Justice.
Confirming the development on Tuesday, Alkasim Abdulkadir, spokesperson to the foreign affairs minister, said the visit was a directive from the presidency to explore legal and diplomatic channels for Ekweremadu’s repatriation under international prisoner-transfer frameworks.
Ekweremadu has been in UK custody since March 2023. He was convicted alongside his wife, Beatrice, and a medical doctor, Obinna Obeta, for conspiring to procure a kidney transplant for their daughter. The UK court found that a 21-year-old man was trafficked to the country for the procedure, in violation of the UK Modern Slavery Act.
The case marked the first conviction of its kind under the legislation. Ekweremadu was handed a sentence of nine years and eight months, while his wife was sentenced to four years and six months. Obeta received a ten-year jail term.
The former lawmaker and his wife were arrested in June 2022 after the young man involved raised an alarm to the UK authorities, claiming he had been misled about the purpose of his travel and the nature of the planned medical procedure.
Beatrice was released earlier this year after serving part of her sentence and has since returned to Nigeria. However, Ekweremadu remains incarcerated in the UK.
The Nigerian government is expected to pursue the possibility of a prisoner-transfer agreement, which would allow the former lawmaker to complete his sentence in a Nigerian correctional facility, subject to approval by both governments and relevant legal processes.
Officials say consultations are ongoing, and further updates will depend on the outcomes of continued diplomatic engagement.
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