Former Nigeria’s president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo has written the United Kingdom, asking for clemency for Senator Ike Ekweremadu and his wife who were convicted of organ trafficking.
In the letter addressed to the Chief Clerk, the Central Criminal Court, Old Bailey, in London, the former President asked the Clerk to intervene and ensure the UK government tempered justice with mercy on the matter.
Obasanjo introduced himself as a soldier commissioned into the British Army of the West African Frontier Force in 1958. He rose to the rank of a full General in the Nigerian Army. He further became the Military Head of State from 1976 to 1979 and was elected President from 1999 to 2007.
The former head of state said Ekweremadu’s action was condemnable and unacceptable. However, he has contributed his quota to the socio-political development of Nigeria. He added that his punishment should consider his past records of good deeds. As well as the plight of his ailing daughter.
An excerpt from his letter says:
Mr. Chief Clerk, I am very much aware of the current travails and conviction of Ike Ekweremadu and his wife in the United Kingdom resulting from their being charged with conspiring to arrange the travel of a 21-year old from Nigeria to the UK in order to harvest organs for their daughter. I do realise the implications of their action and I dare say, it is unpleasant and condemnable and can’t be tolerated in any sane or civilized society.
The former president further said:
It is my fervent desire for the very warm relations between the United Kingdom and the Federal Republic of Nigeria; for his position as one of the distinguished Senators in the Nigerian Parliament, and also for the sake of their daughter in question whose current health condition is in danger and requires an urgent medical attention, you will use your good offices to intervene and appeal to the court and the government of the United Kingdom to be magnanimous enough to temper justice with mercy and let punishment that may have to come take their good character and parental instinct and care into consideration
Ekweremadu is at risk of being sentenced to ten years imprisonment in line with the Modern Slavery Act 2015 of the United Kingdom after a London court found him and his wife guilty of organ trafficking.
Following the guilty verdicts by Mr Justice Johnson, Ekweremadu and his wife were remanded in custody. They await sentencing on May 5th.
cc: Daily Post
