This was stated in a release by Abdur-Rahman Balogun Head of Media, Public Relations and Protocols of NIDCOM in Abuja, mentioning that the NIDCOM boss was joining other stakeholders to seek for leniency for Ekweremadu.
The Chairman, Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), Abike Dabiri-Erewa has pleased to the United Kingdom government for clemency for a former Nigerian Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, who were recently convicted for organ harvesting alongside and his wife, Beatrice.
This was stated in a release by Abdur-Rahman Balogun Head of Media, Public Relations and Protocols of NIDCOM in Abuja, mentioning that the NIDCOM boss was joining other stakeholders to seek for leniency for Ekweremadu.
The statement reads "I join men and women of goodwill to plead for clemency for Sen. Ike Ekweremadu , if only even considering the psychological trauma, Sonia, the daughter, would be going through knowing that her parents are in jail because they tried to save her from a health condition she had no control over", Dabiri-Erewa pleaded.
“Dabiri-Erewa who reiterated her pleas, implored the UK government to temper justice with mercy, and admitted that "mistakes have been made, and lessons learned".
“The NIDCOM boss posited that though there is no ignorance before the law, Ekweremadu and his wife acted under the instincts of their parents to save an ailing daughter, and not for commercial purposes.”
In March, the Old Bailey Court in London, UK found Senator Ekweremadu, his wife, Beatrice and a medical doctor, Obinna Obeta guilty of an organ-harvesting plot involving a London NHS hospital.
They were found guilty of conspiring to exploit a young man from Lagos for his body part.
Ekweremadus' 25-year-old daughter Sonia, who was to receive a kidney donation from the trafficking victim, wept as she was cleared of the same charge by the court.
The former Deputy Senate President and his wife were arrested in the UK and charged with trafficking of a 21-year-old street trader from Lagos, for organ harvesting with intent to provide a kidney to Sonia in an £80,000 private transplant at the Royal Free Hospital in London.