Matthew Page, a Nigeria expert at the US state department’s bureau of
intelligence and research, had warned the UK’s national crime agency (NCA) of
the activities of Ike Ekweremadu, former senate president, ahead of his organ
trafficking case.
According to a report by UK
Guardian, the associate fellow at the Chatham House had alerted the UK authorities
to investigate the illicit affairs of Ekweremadu, before he was jailed for
trafficking a man to London in an attempt to harvest his kidney.
On May 5, Ekweremadu was sentenced to nine years and eight
months in prison, while his wife, Beatrice, was sentenced to four years and six
months for the same offence.
In June 2022, the couple was arrested by the London metropolitan police for attempting to convince doctors at the Royal Free hospital to perform an £80,000 transplant on the donor who was presented as the cousin of their daughter, Sonia.
But in the report, Page said the
UK could have avoided the historical case of organ trafficking if the
authorities had swiftly acted on his warnings about Ekweremadu.
In partnership with the UK’s
department for international development, Page examined how Nigerian
politicians including Ekweremadu used unexplained wealth to buy millions of
pounds worth of properties in the UK.
He also investigated how such
politicians used funds accrued over the years to sponsor expensive private
education for their children.
“He found that in a 12-year period, Ekweremadu
would have made about £339,000 as a political office holder, including his
stint as deputy president of the Nigerian senate,” the report said.
“But in that period he bought
three properties – two in London and one in Cambridge – worth £4.2m. The Old
Bailey heard that Ekweremadu had an international property portfolio worth more
than £6m.
“Page supplied the NCA with a
dossier of information about how Ekweremadu had used unexplained wealth to fund
his UK activities.
“Despite the warnings and
financial red flags raised in the dossier, Ekweremadu’s organ trafficking plot
went undetected until a young street trader from Lagos whom he had brought over
fled to Staines police station in Surrey in May 2022 in fear for his life.”
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What of Tinubu, his son and all that they are doing in London? who is talking or acting on them? Uk America etc have turned blind eye to all their activities because they ( UK and America) are benefiting. If these powerful countries would act, most of the bad things happening in Nigeria like the sham and rape of democracy such as the recent Presidential election would be condemned instead, UK Prime minister was on of the first people to congratulate Tinubu.
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