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Akinwande Soji-Ojo
A Central Criminal Court in the United Kingdom has adjourned the organ harvesting case involving former deputy senate president, Ike Ekweremadu, till 2023.
The judge handling the case is going to hear pretrial applications on October 31, but the trial will commence on May 2, 2023.
The former deputy senate president and a third defendant, Obinna Obeta, are charged with conspiring to arrange or facilitate the travel of a man with a view to him being exploited.
Ekweremadu’s wife, Beatrice, and Obeta, 50, from Southwark, South London, are charged with arranging the travel of the man with a view to him being exploited.
The couple were arrested by London Metropolitan Police in June and appeared before a magistrate court in July.
At the court hearing on Thursday, Ekweremadu, representing Enugu West Senatorial District in the National Assembly, asked that a new lawyer represent him.
The police had alleged that David Ukpo Nwamini, the victim at the centre of the organ harvesting allegation is a 15-year-old, but the court ruled that he is 21.
The senator wrote to the UK High Commission in December 2021 to support a visa application for Nwamini.
In the letter, Ekweremadu said Nwamini was undergoing medical investigations for a kidney donation to Sonia Ekweremadu, his daughter, who is in need of a kidney transplant.
He said both Nwamini and Sonia will be at the Royal Free Hospital London.
Ekweremadu’s appearance in the UK court is the third time since his arrest.
The judge said Beatrice should continue to enjoy the conditional bail granted her on July 22, and remanded Ekweremadu and Obeta in custody.