. . . Prays for healing of their daughter, justice for her parents

The presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) Peter Obi says he and his family are praying for Senator Ike Ekweremadu and his family over travails.

Ekweremadu and his wife, Beatrice, were arrested by the London Metropolitan police over links to organ harvesting. They are being charged for allegedly conspiring to bring a child to the UK for organ harvesting.

Hours after the news broke, Obi took to his Twitter handle to show his support for the Enugu lawmaker.

“My family and I are with the Ekweremadu’s over their travail,” he tweeted on Friday morning.

“We join all men of goodwill in praying for the healing of their daughter and commit them into God’s hand for justice to be done.”

Senator Ekweremadu and his wife were arrested upon arrival in London on Thursday, June 23, 2022. The former Deputy Senate President and his wife were promptly charged with conspiracy to traffic a child brought to London by them and to harvest his organs. They were denied bail and the case adjourned till July 7, 2022.

Incidentally, Senator Ekweremadu had recently stirred controversy when he said that the South-East would not vote for Obi during the 2023 presidential election but for Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, of which Ekweremadu is a chieftain.

Arraigned before a UK magistrate’s court shortly after their arrest, Ekweremadu and his wife denied all charges of human trafficking and organ harvesting filed against them.

The couple said they did not procure a minor in order to abduct and harvest his organ, contradicting the charges filed by the Metropolitan Police at Uxbridge Magistrate’s Court, London, on Thursday afternoon.

The charges were “nothing short of preposterous,” the Ekweremadus said through their lawyer Gavin Irwin, who added that the couple never “arranged transport for anyone with intention to exploit them.”

However, despite strongly denying the allegations, the Ekweremadus were remanded in custody until commencement of trial on July 7.

Ekweremadu has been a member of the Nigerian Senate since 2003. He was the Deputy Senate President between 2015 and 2019. He sought but failed to clinch the PDP ticket for governorship race in his home Enugu State.

Ekweremadu’s records “taken together go way beyond him being a person of good character…rather that he has led a blameless life as a public servant,” his lawyers added.

Antonia Gray, a lawyer to Mrs Ekweremadu, said: “She has never been complicit or involved in any alleged illegal trafficking of any young person.”

“She is a financial accountant with an unblemished record,” the lawyer added.

A letter which Ekweremadu wrote to the UK High Commission seeking to procure a visa for someone named David Ukpo.

The December 28, 2021, letter signed personally by Ekweremadu specifically said he was supporting Ukpo’s visa application because he wanted him to undergo medical examinations in the UK with the purpose of donating a kidney to his daughter Sonia Ekweremadu. (Additional reports by Channels TV and news agencies)

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