Tinubu Moves to Secure Ekweremadu’s Return: Presidential Delegation Engages UK Over Prison Sentence Transfer

In a major diplomatic intervention, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has dispatched a high-powered delegation to the United Kingdom to negotiate the possible transfer of former Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, to Nigeria to serve the remainder of his prison sentence.

The delegation, led by Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar, and Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), arrived in London on Monday for a series of high-level engagements with British authorities, including officials of the UK Ministry of Justice.

Confirming the development in a statement on Tuesday, Alkasim Abdulkadir, spokesperson for Minister Tuggar, said the presidential envoys were mandated to explore diplomatic and legal frameworks that could allow Ekweremadu to complete his sentence in Nigeria, in line with existing prisoner transfer agreements between both countries.

According to Abdulkadir, the move underscores President Tinubu’s commitment to upholding the rights of Nigerian citizens abroad while deepening bilateral cooperation with the United Kingdom on justice and humanitarian matters.

Senator Ekweremadu, a three-term Deputy Senate President and influential lawmaker from Enugu State, has been in a UK prison since March 2023 after being convicted in a landmark case under the UK Modern Slavery Act.

He, alongside his wife, Beatrice, and medical practitioner, Dr. Obinna Obeta, was found guilty of organ trafficking in a controversial trial that sparked widespread outrage and sympathy across Nigeria. The conviction followed their 2022 arrest by London’s Metropolitan Police after a 21-year-old man claimed he had been trafficked into the UK under the guise of donating a kidney for Ekweremadu’s ailing daughter, Sonia.

In May 2023, Judge Jeremy Johnson sentenced Ekweremadu to nine years and eight months in prison, marking the first conviction of its kind under the UK’s Modern Slavery legislation. Beatrice Ekweremadu received a four-and-a-half-year sentence, while Dr. Obeta was handed ten years. Beatrice was later released in January 2024 and has since returned to Nigeria.

Sources close to the Nigerian government disclosed that the diplomatic engagement also aims to strengthen Nigeria–UK relations on consular matters, human rights, and cross-border justice reforms.

If successful, the negotiations could pave the way for Ekweremadu’s repatriation—a move that may have significant political and diplomatic implications back home.