Organ trafficking: I feel guilty over my parents conviction — Sonia Ekweremadu

Sonia, the daughter of former deputy senate president, Ike Ekweremadu, has reacted to the news of her parents’ conviction.

In an interview with BBC, Sonia said she feels guilty that her parents were convicted because they were looking for ways to find a solution to her health condition. She said although she understands why her parents were convicted, she disagrees with it from a “very biased perspective as their daughter.”

“I understand the conviction, however, I personally disagree with it. That is from a very bias perspective as their daughter, I will obviously always back my parents. However, the law has taken its course, we just need to move on as one family,” she said.

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When asked about the man who was supposed to donate his kidney to her, she said she was not involved in the process.

She said, “I didn’t have a hand in it; it was mostly my family that handled everything about my medical side. I don’t think things will ever be the same, already I feel guilty, because I feel all these happened because of me.”

A UK jury had in March 2023 found that Ekweremadu, his wife, Beatrice; and a doctor, Obinna Obeta, conspired to bring a 21-year-old Lagos street trader to London to exploit him for his kidney.

The young man was said to have been falsely presented as Sonia’s cousin in a failed bid to persuade doctors to carry out an £80,000 private procedure at the Royal Free Hospital in London.

Ekweremadu was sentenced to nine years and eight months, Beatrice was sentenced to four years and six months in prison, while “middleman” medical doctor Obeta received a 10-year prison term.