Former deputy senate president, Ike Ekweremadu, has revealed to a court in London that he was advised by his doctor against seeking a kidney donor from his family members.
Recall that Ekweremadu and wife, Beatrice, were arrested in 2022 and are currently facing charges in the United Kingdom for allegedly luring a young man from Nigeria to harvest his kidney for their ailing daughter, Sonia, who is also standing trial.
As reported by THE NATION, the young man, a trader from Lagos, was to be rewarded for donating a kidney to Sonia in an £80,000 private procedure at the Royal Free Hospital in London.
Prosecutor Hugh Davies KC, while cross-examining Ekweremadu, 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?”
Responding, Ekweremadu said: “He would have had basic knowledge. I’m not a doctor, so if he says so, I believe him.”
But Davies said: “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.”
Ekweremadu, however, suggested he had “limited intelligence,” a claim that was rejected by the prosecutor, who said, “It is incredible. You do not lack intelligence.”
Davies continued, “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, Ekweremadu said it was “not true” that he agreed to get a donor by going through agents for the task.
