The United Kingdom government has turned down the Nigerian government’s request to have Ike Ekweremadu, former deputy senate president, serve the remainder of his prison sentence in Nigeria.

Ekweremadu is currently incarcerated in the UK after being convicted in March 2023 for organ trafficking, receiving a sentence of nine years and eight months for conspiring to exploit a young man’s kidney.

Earlier this month, President Bola Tinubu dispatched a high-level delegation to London to engage UK authorities on Ekweremadu’s case and explore the possibility of transferring him to serve his sentence in Nigeria.

The delegation included Yusuf Tuggar, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Lateef Fagbemi, Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice.

However, the UK Guardian, citing an unnamed official from the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), reported that the request was rejected.

“A source at the MoJ has confirmed the request was rejected. It is understood the UK government was concerned that Nigeria could offer no guarantees that Ekweremadu would continue his prison sentence after being deported,” the newspaper quoted.

The official added, “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.”

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Ekweremadu and his wife, Beatrice, along with doctor Obinna Obeta, were arrested by the London Metropolitan Police in June 2022.

They had attempted to persuade medics at the Royal Free Hospital to perform an £80,000 kidney transplant on a 21-year-old man, falsely presented as a relative of the Ekweremadu family.

The man, allegedly promised work in the UK, reported the plot to police in May 2022.

In March 2023, a UK court found Ekweremadu guilty of organ trafficking under the UK Modern Slavery Act, marking the first conviction of its kind.

Beatrice Ekweremadu and Obeta were also convicted.

On May 5, 2023, the sentences were handed down: Ike Ekweremadu received nine years and eight months, Beatrice Ekweremadu was sentenced to four years and six months, and Obeta got 10 years.

The judge, Jeremy Johnson, ordered that Beatrice spend half of her sentence in custody and the remainder on licence.

She was released and returned to Nigeria in January 2025.