Tinubu sends top officials to London to seek Ekweremadu’s transfer to Nigeria

President Bola Tinubu has dispatched a high-level delegation to the United Kingdom to negotiate the possible transfer of former deputy senate president, Ike Ekweremadu, who is currently serving a prison sentence in London.

The delegation, led by Yusuf Tuggar, minister of foreign affairs, and Lateef Fagbemi, attorney-general of the federation and minister of justice, arrived in London on Monday and met with senior officials of the UK Ministry of Justice.

Confirming the visit, Tuggar’s spokesperson, Alkasim Abdulkadir, said the discussions are focused on exploring legal and diplomatic options for Ekweremadu to serve the remainder of his sentence in Nigeria under existing international prisoner transfer frameworks.

Ekweremadu was arrested in June 2022 after a 21-year-old man reported to UK authorities that he had been brought to London to donate a kidney for Ekweremadu’s ailing daughter, Sonia, under allegedly false pretences. In March 2023, a UK court convicted Ekweremadu, his wife Beatrice, and a medical doctor, Obinna Obeta, of organ trafficking, the first conviction of its kind under the UK Modern Slavery Act.

On May 5, 2023, Ekweremadu was sentenced to nine years and eight months in prison, while his wife received four years and six months, and Obeta was sentenced to 10 years. Beatrice has since completed part of her sentence and was released in January before returning to Nigeria.

The discussions in London signal the clearest diplomatic effort yet by the Tinubu administration to secure Ekweremadu’s transfer, though outcomes will depend on UK legal processes and bilateral agreements.