By Seyi Odewale
Sonia, daughter of Senator Ike Ekweremadu, was yesterday accused by the London Court of trafficking a homeless man into the United Kingdom to harvest his organs for herself.in court.

The 25-year-old lady is charged alongside her father, her mother, Beatrice, and a 50-year-old medical doctor, Obinna Obeta, with conspiracy to arrange the travel of another person to exploit.

They were alleged to have conspired with others unknown and with another family member Isaac Ekweremadu, to arrange the travel of a 21-year-old boy to exploit him between August 1, 2021, and May 5, 2022.

They facilitated his travel from Lagos to London to remove one of his kidneys, it is claimed.

Sonia has a kidney-related disease and has been on dialysis for some time, the court has been told.

ASUU: Gbajabiamila calls for calm amidst alleged half salary

Prosecutors claim the plot was to harvest the man’s organ for her benefit.

They were arrested after the young man, who previously lived on the streets of Lagos, turned up at Staines Police Station, claiming that he was the victim of trafficking.

The young man told officers that he had arrived in the UK on February 20 this year and had been taken to Royal Free Hospital for tests, none of which he consented to.

After these tests, the man said he had returned to the house where he had been staying and being ‘treated effectively as a slave’, adding that he escaped the address and was homeless for three days before going to the police.

Ekweremadu and Obeta are currently on remand in HMP Wandsworth and HMP Belmarsh respectively. They did not appear in court yesterday.

Beatrice was granted bail at a hearing in July and appeared in court yesterday wearing a black head-wrap and long black coat.

Sonia is also on bail and appeared alongside her mother wearing a knitted, patterned sweater vest.

The defendants were due to enter their pleas, but this could not take place yesterday because of further legal arguments.

The trial has been brought forward from May to January 31 next year at the Old Bailey.

Prosecutor Oliver Glasgow, KC, said, “We are told that this court is in a position to accommodate the trial…three months earlier. If an earlier date can be offered, and one can be, then it should be taken.”

The trial will last four weeks, and a High Court judge will preside over the hearing.

ASUU: Gbajabiamila calls for calm amidst alleged half salary

*Ex-deputy senate president to spend Yuletide in prison

Meanwhile, barely a few days after an Abuja Federal High Court presided over by Justice Inyang Ekwo ordered an interim forfeiture of the former deputy senate president’s assets, London’s Central Court in the United Kingdom has ruled that the embattled senator will spend the Yuletide in prison custody as it adjourned his trial from May 2023 to January 31, 2023. He is facing charges over alleged organ harvesting.

The Old Bailey, as the court is called, agreed that arguments would be heard on December 16 or December 19, 2022, before the commencement of the trial in January.

Ekweremadu and his wife, Beatrice, were arrested on June 23 and charged with conspiracy to traffic a person for organ harvesting in violation of the Modern Slavery Act 2015.

Though he was absent from court yesterday, his wife, who was released on bail in July, and Sonia, their daughter, were present in the court.

Last week, Justice Ekwo ordered the interim forfeiture of Ekweremadu’s assets following an ex-parte motion by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

The apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, has since described the court’s ruling as “hasty” and a “selective judgement”.