Adesola Sulaimon
The Igbo Socio-Cultural Organization, Ohanaeze Ndigbo has called on the Federal Government to intervene in the case of embattled former Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, who is facing trial in the UK for alleged organ harvesting.
This is following the comment of the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami regarding the position of the FG on the issue.
Malami, while briefing journalist on Thursday had said “it has never been the tradition of the Nigerian government to interfere in anything judicial, local or international.”
Reacting to this, Ohanaeze Ndigbo in a statement faulted Malami for his comment while urging the FG to intervene in the case, citing different occasions the government had intervened in judicial diplomatic issues in the diaspora.
The statement reads “Every dispassionate Nigerian knows that the practice of organ harvest has over the years become a Nigerian provenance and of course it is not viewed as unlawful so long as there is a mutual agreement between the parties involved.
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“It is in the context of cultural relativism and the premium placed on their citizens’ welfare and national pride that countries deploy their diplomatic weights and resources to ensure their citizens obtain justice and even reprieve in a foreign land, no matter the gravity of the offence.
“Ohanaeze Ndigbo believes that Ekweremadu’s case should not be different, especially when Nigeria enjoys longstanding cordial relations with the UK, and all the individuals involved in the UK case are Nigerian nationals.
“The Nigerian government and indeed all Nigerians should know that a measured indignity to Ike Ekweremadu, an illustrious Igbo and a serving senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is a sad denouement to Nigeria and indeed the entire Africa.
“We urge the Federal Government led by President Muhammadu Buhari and Mr. Geffrey Onyeama, Minister of Foreign Affairs; Nigeria High Commission in the UK, the Senate and House of Representatives to burnish their diplomatic channels in ensuring that Ekweremadu and wife get the desired assistance by transferring the case to Nigeria”.
