Reason UK rejects FG’s request for Ekweremadu’s transfer to Nigeria

The Tinubu administration’s recent efforts to appeal for the transfer of the former Deputy Senate President to Nigeria, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, to Nigeria, has reportedly been rejected by The United Kingdom government.

Ekweremadu, his wife Beatrice, and a co-conspirator, Dr Obinna Obeta, were jailed in the UK for trafficking a young man to London with a view to harvesting his kidney. They planned to transplant the organ to Ekweremadu’s daughter, Sonia, in a private unit of an NHS hospital.

A source at the UK Ministry of Justice confirmed to The Guardian that the request was rejected. According to the report, the UK government is concerned about how the federal government might handle the case if the former lawmaker is transferred to Nigeria.

A government spokesperson told the newspaper that “any prisoner transfer is at our discretion following a careful assessment of whether it would be in the interests of justice.”

“The UK will not tolerate modern slavery and any offender will face the full force of UK law”, The Guardian (UK) quoted another source.