UK – Sonia, the ailing daughter of Sen. Ike Ekweremadu, on Monday appeared in court over the accusation of trafficking a homeless man into the United Kingdom to harvest his organs for herself.
According to the Daily Mail, the younger Ekweremadu was accused alongside her father Ike Ekweremadu, 60, her mother Beatrice Ekweremadu, 56, and 50-year-old Dr Obinna Obeta of conspiracy to arrange the travel of another person with a view to exploitation.
It was reported that Ms Ekweremadu has not entered a plea but a trial date has been set for January 31, 2023.
It was claimed that Sonia and the accused facilitated the man’s travel from Lagos to London to remove one of his kidneys.
Prosecutors claim the plot was to harvest the man’s organ for Sonia’s benefit.
Sonia has a kidney-related disease and has been on dialysis for some time, the court has been told.
They were arrested after the young man, who previously lived on the streets of Lagos, turned up at Staines police station, claiming he was the victim of trafficking.
The man told officers he had arrived in the UK on February 20 this year and had been taken to Royal Free Hospital for tests, none of which he consented to.
The Daily Mail added that after these tests, the man said he had returned to the house he had been staying in, where he was ‘treated effectively as a slave’.
He said he escaped the address and was homeless for three days before going to the police.
Ekeremadu, a barrister and former deputy president of the Nigerian Senate, and his wife Beatrice, were arrested in the UK on June 21 after flying in to Heathrow from Turkey.
