The Federal Government has dispatched a top-level delegation to the United Kingdom to explore the possibility of transferring Senator Ike Ekweremadu, a former Deputy Senate President, back to Nigeria to complete his prison sentence.
The Nigerian team, comprising the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Maitama Tuggar, and the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), held closed-door discussions with senior officials at the UK Ministry of Justice on Monday. Following the engagement, Ambassador Mohammed Maidugu, the Acting High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, received the delegation at the Nigerian High Commission in London.
Alkasim AbdulKadir, spokesman for the Foreign Affairs Minister, confirmed the development to Arise Television, stating that consultations with UK authorities are still ongoing. He disclosed that an appeal for prisoner exchange has been formally submitted to British officials.
The diplomatic push is anchored on a 2014 bilateral prisoner transfer agreement between Nigeria and the UK, which enables convicted persons to serve their sentences in their home country to facilitate rehabilitation and reintegration.
Senator Ekweremadu has been behind bars in the UK since his conviction in May 2023 for orchestrating an organ trafficking scheme. He was sentenced to nine years and eight months under the UK Modern Slavery Act after conspiring to traffic a 21-year-old Lagos street vendor to Britain for a kidney transplant intended for his daughter, Sonia Ekweremadu.
The former lawmaker’s wife, Beatrice Ekweremadu, who received a four-year and six-month sentence for her involvement in the case, was released early and returned to Nigeria in January 2025. Dr. Obinna Obeta, a medical middleman who facilitated the arrangement, is currently serving a 10-year prison term.
The case drew international attention as the first of its kind involving a Nigerian politician and sparked significant diplomatic discussions between both nations. While the Ekweremadu family maintained they acted out of desperation to save their daughter’s life, the UK court ruled that the alleged donor’s consent was obtained under false pretenses.
The Federal Government has not announced a timeline for the UK’s decision on the transfer request, but officials remain hopeful that President Bola Tinubu’s high-level intervention could expedite the process.