Ekweremadu tells court doctors asked him not to seek kidney donor from among his relatives

FORMER senate deputy president Senator Ike Ekweremadu has told a London that he opted for bringing a homeless trader to the UK to donate a kidney to his daughter because was advised by his doctor against seeking a kidney donor from among family members.

In June last year, Senator Ekweremadu and his wife Beatrice were arrested by London's Metropolitan Police on suspicion of child trafficking and planned organ harvesting. They were then charged before Uxbridge Magistrates’ Court with conspiracy to arrange/facilitate travel of another person with a view to exploitation, namely organ harvesting.

London-based medical doctor Obinna Obeta, has been charged along with the Ekweremadus with helping to facilitate the travel of Lagos street trader David Ukpo Nwamini to the UK for the purpose of harvesting his kidney. Mr Nwamini, 21, a trader from Lagos, was to be rewarded for donating a kidney to Sonia, Senator Ekweremadus daughter,  in an £80,000 private procedure at the Royal Free Hospital in London.

However, the Ekweremadus decided to turn their interest to Turkey in search of the needed organ after Mr Nwamini's organ was rejected as unsuitable. During the ongoing trial, Senator Ekweremadu robustly denied that this was a case of human trafficking.

While cross-examining the lawmaker, prosecutor Hugh Davies  said: “On the question of whether a family member could, in principle, act as a donor, you decided that was not possible based on a reported conversation between your non-nephrologist brother and Dr Obeta, a non-nephrologist?” In response, Senator Ekweremadu said: “He would have had basic knowledge. I’m not a doctor, so if he says so, I believe him.”

However, Mr Davies added: “All you had to do, rather than rely on a second-hand account from non-nephrologists, was to ask one of the specialists you were consulting whether a family member could donate a kidney.”

Senator Ekweremadu, however, suggested he had limited intelligence on the matter, a claim that was rejected by the prosecutor. Mr Davies said:   “It is incredible. You do not lack intelligence. The fact is you did not even try to ask Sonia’s cousins, for example, to consider acting as a donor.

“What you are saying is you had no intention of anyone in your family, immediate or extended, stepping up to donate a kidney to Sonia. Far better to buy one and let the medical risk go to someone you don’t know.”

Responding, Senator Ekweremadu said it was not true that he agreed to get a donor by going through agents for the task. On why the Ekweremadus had been prepared to leave an internationally recognised centre of excellence in London for an unknown quantity in Turkey, the lawmaker replied Mr Davies, saying treatment in Turkey was cheaper.