Enugu Residents react to Ekweremadu’s Conviction, call for Dialogue

Following the conviction of former deputy senate president, Ike Ekweremadu for organ trafficking in the United Kingdom, a dialogue has ensued regarding the sentence he will be handed in May 2023.

His wife, Beatrice, and middleman Obinna Obeta, a medical doctor involved in the case, were also found guilty when the verdict was delivered on Thursday

Enugu, South East Nigeria was the capital of the Eastern Region and the home state of Senator Ike Ekweremadu, former deputy president of the Senate.

Senator Ekweremadu is the longest serving federal legislator in the state, a three times deputy president of the Senate and a legislator in whose achievements dots beyond his state and South East region of Nigeria.

The news of his arrest in October 2022 with his wife for alleged organ harvesting in the United Kingdom came as a rude shock to people of the state

Although the Ekweremadus were first arraigned at the Uxbridge magistrates court, the case was later moved to the central criminal court in London where the trial spanned six weeks.

The jury held that the Senator, wife and the middleman conspired to bring the 21-year-old at the centre of the matter to London to exploit him for his kidney.

Residents of the state received the news with mixed feelings, considering the circumstances that surrounded the incident.

Some feel his case should be treated on compassionate ground since it is an attempt to save his daughter’s life

Kingsley Okechukwu, a legal practitioner put up an argument to support the move. He also sought for review of the country’s citizens protection rights law.

The presiding judge has fixed May 5 to issue sentencing on the convicts.

Modern Slavery Act 2015 Chapter 30 of the MSA 2015 criminalises a range of offences.

it is important to note that the verdict is the first of its kind under the Modern Slavery Act 2015 of the UK

There is a likelihood that the Ekweremadus may not get the minimum 12 months option attached to summary convictions.

This implies that if the Ekweremadus are found guilty of “intent to commit human trafficking” — seeing as the kidney transplant did not eventually happen — they will be handed a sentence not exceeding 10 years.

 

Church urges Buhari to sanitize security before handing over

 

The Church of the Brethren in Nigeria, Also Known As Ecclesiya Yan’uwa a Nigeria (EYA), has expressed concern over the present security and economic travails confronting Nigerians.
It has advised President Muhammadu Buhari to write his name in gold by resolving the fuel and naira scarcity facing common man before handing over to the president-elect Bola Ahmed Tinubu on May 29th 2023

The church of Brethren in Nigeria was among of the churches greatly affected by the activities of Boko Haram during their reign of terror in Adamawa State.

The church lost over 1,390 local church auditoriums to the insurgents according to the statistics released by the church.

Despite all odds it passed through, it is marking one hundred years of its existence in Nigeria.

At this event, President of the church, Reverend Joel Stephen Billi insists the security situation in the country still needs to be urgently addressed.

This administration has just over two months to go before its expiration

But the Church President believes that within this time the Buhari Administration must address the scarcity of fuel and cash, for posterity’s sake.

The state governor and other speakers at the event believe there is a better future for the country.

The forum was used to commend the effort of the church in bringing stability to the country.

People from all walks of life prayed for the peace of the country.

The church which started in Garkida in 1923 currently has headquarters in Kwarhi, Adamawa State, with most its local congregations in the state and other Boko Haram troubled areas in the North East.