At the resumption of hearing in the charge of organ harvesting filed against Ike Ekweremadu, prosecutor Hugh Davis told the court that the former deputy senate president committed a crime. Others charged along with Ekeweremadu include his wife Beatrice, daughter Sonia, 25, and an associate, Dr Obinna Obeta, 50. According to Davis, Senator Ekweremadu paid a street trader to travel to the UK to donate his kidney for his ailing daughter who is suffering from kidney disease. He told the jury that paying someone for kidney donation was criminal. “There was an obvious risk that those providing organs for transplantation for reward are likely to come from the poorest and most vulnerable sections of society,” Davis said.
He said Ekweremadu and his associates began a search for a donor among “economically vulnerable people” in Nigeria with the right blood and genome types. He added that prospective donors were invited to Abuja for tests. According to BBC, the court learnt he was given medical tests in Nigeria to assess his suitability as a donor before being flown to the UK and he was allegedly offered the equivalent of £2,400 plus the promise that he could live and work in the UK. “None of this would have been necessary if this was a straightforward, genuine, altruistic kidney donation. It was not. It was criminal. In the real world, altruistic donors are an exceptionally rare commodity,” Davis added.
