By Tunde Oyedoyin, London
The “conspiracy to facilitate harvesting organ” trial of former Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, begins at the Central Criminal Court, a.k.a., The Old Bailey on Tuesday. It will last “seven weeks,” a staff member of the court confirmed to The Guardian on Friday.
Ekweremadu’s wife, Beatrice, their 25-year daughter, Sonia (for whom the parents wanted a donor kidney) and Dr. Obinna Obeta , will be tried with the former second topmost Senator of Nigeria for conspiring to harvest David Nwamini’s kidney. Although Sonia was not originally on the charge sheet , but in a bizarre twist of fate, the prosecution dragged her in and charged her in the second half of December.
Also last month , the Ekweremadus made a case for the “dismissal of the charges,” but after two days of legal wranglings, the pre-trial judge threw their application out and did likewise for the Senator’s bail application , leaning towards the Crown’s- government- argument that he remains a “flight risk,” and might abscond from the United Kingdom if granted bail.
However, Mrs. Ekweremadu , who was arrested with her husband at Heathrow Airport on June 23rd, has been on conditional bail. Unlike her daughter, who may not be present in court for the entire duration of the hearing, because of her ongoing medical treatment, Mrs. Ekweremadu, the Senator and Obinna are expected in court throughout the seven weeks.
In September, Sonia made a public appeal on Instagram, asking for any member of the public willing to donate a kidney to come to her aid so as to replace her damaged kidney. She revealed that she suffers from a rare kidney disease. She also disclosed that she had to drop out of the university of Newcastle in 2019, “when I was diagnosed with a rare kidney disease, FSGS Nephrotic Syndrome.
Source: The Guardian
