A former Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu has joined the list of notable Nigerians that have either been locked up in foreign jails in the past or are still serving jail terms.
Ekweremadu was on Friday sentenced to about 10 years imprisonment, alongside his wife, Beatrice on the charge of conspiracy to traffic organs.
The Nigerian longest-serving deputy senate president is now in the company of notable Nigerians that have tested or still testing prisons on foreign soil.
He is in the company of fraudsters, politicians, and even acclaimed “freedom fighters”.
Obinwanne Okeke
Okeke was on the cover of the prestigious Forbes Magazine, where he was listed as one of the 30 under 30. A special editorial that highlights people under 30 that have accomplished significant feats.
Months later, he was nabbed for $11 million fraud and was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment by a District Court of Eastern District of Virginia, USA.
Okeke, popularly known as Invictus Obi, is still serving his prison term.
Hushpuppy
Rahman Abbas, a popular Instagram celebrity, known as Hushpuppy is serving a sentence of 11 years in the US.
Hushpuppy, now convicted as a notorious fraudster, was sentenced by United States District Judge Otis Wright II, who also ordered him to pay $1,732,841 in restitution to two fraud victims.
James Ibori
The former Governor of Delta State, has a record of being convicted twice by the UK government. He was reportedly convicted in 1991 for stealing from a store where he was working.
Ibori, who served as governor of Delta State from 1999 to 2007, was arrested in Dubai in 2010 and extradited to the UK.
He was convicted in the UK and was later released in 2016, from where he subsequently returned to Nigeria with a heroic welcome.
Diepreye Alamieyeseigha
The former Bayelsa State governor was arrested by the Metropolitan police in September 2005.
Alamieyeseigha, who was governor of the oil-rich state from 1999 until his impeachment in 2005, was being arraigned by the UK government but he subsequently jumped bail.
UK authorities seized $1.5million cash stashed in his London home. They also seized $2.7 million in a bank account at the Royal Bank of Scotland and $15 million in London real estate.
He was subsequently jailed in Nigeria but was later granted a presidential pardon by ex-president Goodluck Jonathan.
Mr Alamieyeseigha died in 2015.
Sunday Adeyemo
The self-acclaimed leader of the Yoruba Nation also served a considerable amount of time in prison in the Benin Republic.
Adeyemo, popularly known as Sunday Igboho, fled Nigeria following a raid of his House by the Nigerian secret police, the DSS.
He was reportedly arrested by the Republican police while trying to move to Germany. He was arrested at Cardinal Bernardin International Airport in Cotonou in 2021.
He was released in 2022 on the condition that he must not leave Cotonou and must not hold any rallies.
Kashamu Buruji
Kashamu, who served as a senator in the 8th Assembly, was reportedly arrested in the UK in 1998 after trying to enter the country with $230,000 in cash.
In 2003, a British court refused a US request to extradite Kashamu, citing uncertainty about his identity. He was then freed from prison where he had been for five years after being found carrying $230,000 when he was arrested.
The late senator spent years fighting against an attempt to extradite him to the US.
Henry Okah
Henry, the younger brother of the leader of MEND, Charles Okah, has been in prison in South Africa since 2013.
He was handed a 24-year prison term in connection with the 2010 Independence Day bombing. The South African court convicted Okah on 13 charges of terrorism.
