By Adesina Soyooye
Shock and sympathy registered on the faces of not a few people in Nigeria, when Sonia, the ailing daughter of Senator Ike Ekweremadu and his wife, Beatrice, was arraigned in Court by the London Police on Monday, 7th November, 2022.
They were arraigned for allegedly trafficking in human organs. Sonia’s father, a serving Federal Lawmaker, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, is also being prosecuted in Court for the same alleged offence.
The Senator and his wife, Beatrice, were arrested at the London Heathrow Airport, June 21, 2022, on arrival from Turkey. They were charged with an alleged illegal trafficking of a homeless 21-year old from Lagos to London for the sole purpose of harvesting one of his kidneys for their daughter, Sonia, who is suffering from kidney disease and has been undergoing dialysis in London. The young man claimed he was unaware of the real reason he was brought to London, and that was they found him uncooperative, the attitude of the family where he was kept in London changed towards him. He alleged members began to treat him like a slave, forcing him to escape, and report to the Police after sleeping for three nights in the street.
While Mrs Ekweremadu was given bail after about six weeks in Prison custody, the Judge, for inexplicable reasons, refused to grant Senator Ekweremadu bail. He is in custody with a Nigerian-born Medical Doctor, 50 year old Obinna Obeta, who is charged with conspiracy.
It is not known why Sonia was arraigned in Court alongside her mother, but it is likely to be for conspiracy to illegally harvest a human organ.
Sonia had, a couple of months ago, written an emotional open appeal to the public for a kind kidney donor to save her life.
In the appeal, he lamented the sad fate of her parents and family over her ailment, and disclosed that her father is, also, down with kidney disease in custody.
Sonia did not take any plea, but a trial date has been set for January 31, 2023.
