UPDATE:

Nigerian Medical Doctor in London confessed to us of a discreet plan with Senator IKE EKWEREMADU, Wife to traffic a 21-year-old Homeless Bricklayer to the UK and harvest the kidney for the sick daughter-British Metropolitan Police

… Suspects remain in police custody as we are enlarging our investigation into the case, victim escaped the London home of Ekweremadu, homeless for three days before turning up at Staines Police Station

*Doctor, Obinna Obeta charged for plotting with wealthy Nigerian senator and wife for long under Modern Slavery Act, may lose medical license

*Ekweremadu, 60, and wife, 55, ‘conspired to arrange or facilitate the travel of the man with a view to him being exploited, namely organ harvesting’

*Prosecutors claim they planned to have his kidney removed for their daughter without victim’s consent

*The couple have denied  wrongdoing or that there was a criminal conspiracy

*BY MOBOLA AJAKAYE/JUDICIAL Reporter, London & GEORGE ELIJAH OTUMU/AMERICAN Senior Investigative EDITOR

TOUGH TIMES await IKE EKWEREMADU, a former Deputy Senate President, an incumbent Senator and wife, and Obinna Obeta, a medical doctor for their various involvement in secretly bringing a 21-year-old Nigerian bricklayer to London for the purpose of harvesting his kidney to give to his ailing daughter without the victim’s consent. As at press time, Obeta has confessed to the felony crime and cooperating with British law enforcement agencies. 

Obinna Obeta, 50, from Southwark, south London has been accused of plotting with a wealthy Nigerian senator and his wife to traffic a homeless man into the UK to harvest a kidney for their daughter, a court heard today. 

Obeta is charged under the Modern Slavery Act with arranging the travel of a 21-year-old man with a view to him being exploited between August last year and this May. 

A second charge alleges he conspired with 60-year-old Ike Ekweremadu – a barrister and former deputy president of the Nigerian Senate to arrange or facilitate the travel of the man with a view to him being exploited, namely organ harvesting.

It is alleged Ike Ekweremadu, 60, a district senator and lawyer, and his wife, Beatrice Nwanneka Ekweremadu, 55, brought the 21-year-old man from Nigeria to the UK.

Prosecutors claim they planned to have his kidney removed so it could be given to their daughter.

The man is said to have refused to consent to the procedure after undergoing tests at the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead, north-west London.

The Ekweremadus allegedly treated him as a slave before he escaped and went to Staines police station in Surrey.

The couple were arrested at Heathrow Airport on June 21 after arriving on a flight from Turkey and appeared at the Old Bailey today for a bail hearing.

The couple deny wrongdoing or that there was a criminal conspiracy, and claim no exploitation occurred.

Obeta, of Hillbeck Close, Southwark, southeast London, appeared at Bexley Magistrates’ Court on 13 July. 

He was charged with arranging or facilitating travel of another person with a view to exploitation and conspiring together with Ike Ekweremadu to arrange or facilitate the travel of another person with a view to exploitation.

Prosecutor Tim Probert-Wood said previously that the case involved ‘exploitation and the harvesting of an organ.’

He said: ‘The case began on 5 May 2022 when the complainant presented himself at Staines Police Station and claimed he had been transported to this country for the purpose of his kidney being removed.

‘He arrived on 20th February 2022 and was taken to Royal Free Hospital where tests were conducted.

‘For the purpose he was there he did not consent to the taking of his kidney.

‘He returned to the house he was staying in and his treatment changed dramatically.

‘He described being treated effectively as a slave.’

The victim allegedly escaped the address and was homeless for three days before he turned up at Staines Police Station.

Ike and Beatrice were arrested in the UK on 21 June after flying in to Heathrow from Turkey.

Martin Hicks, QC, defending Ike, has said: ‘We deny that there was any exploitation or any intent to do so.

‘The argument will be factual denial.’

All three defendants, who are in custody, are due to appear at the Old Bailey on August 4. 

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