…as Senate dispatches delegation to UK
Federal Government has engaged the services of some lawyers to defend the former deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu and his wife, Beatrice, who are currently facing organ harvesting charge in the United Kingdom.
Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, who disclosed this on Wednesday, said that the Nigerian High Commission in the United Kingdom had hired the lawyers to defend Ekweremadu currently representing Enugu West Senatorial District in the Senate.
He also said that the Senate had sent a delegation to the UK to meet with Ekweremadu.
Lawan made these while giving details about the outcome of a closed session held by the Senate before the start of Wednesday’s plenary proceedings.
The one-hour closed-door session, which started at about 10:57 a.m, ended at 11:49 a.m.
Recall that Ekweremadu, alongside his wife, was arrested by the UK Metropolitan Police last Tuesday for allegedly conspiring to harvest the organs of a minor.
The former deputy Senate President and his wife allegedly facilitated the minor, David Nwamini’s entry into the UK to transplant his kidney into their daughter, Sonia, currently down in a London hospital from kidney failure.
Ekweremadu and his wife were arraigned at the Uxbridge Magistrates’ Court in London on charges of conspiracy and organ harvesting on Thursday, last week.
Lawan, however, said a delegation from the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs would depart Nigeria for London on July 1, 2022, to visit the embattled couple still being detained over an allegation of organ harvesting.
Lawan’s Special Assistant (Press), Dr. Ezrel Tabiowo, stated these in a press statement titled, ‘Senate delegation to visit Ekweremadu, wife in London’.
Lawan said the Senate’s decision to wade into Ekweremadu’s arrest and detention was against the backdrop of a briefing received by the Nigerian High Commissioner to London, Alhaji Sarafa Tunji Isola.
The Senate President further stated that the Senate would engage the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Nigerian High Commission in London on Ekweremadu and his wife’s arrest by the London Metropolitan Police in the United Kingdom.
Lawan said, “I had a personal engagement with our Nigerian High Commissioner to Britain, Alhaji Isola Sarafa, who has done so well to establish contact with our colleague, who has been able to get his team to be in the court at Uxbridge where Ekweremadu was taken to.
“The High Commission has also been able to provide some consular services that include the engagement of some lawyers who will defend our colleague.
“We commend them for giving attention to the issue at stake. Equally, the Nigeria Foreign Affairs Minister has been engaged here, so that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs takes steps to provide diplomatic support for our colleague.
“Because this issue is already in court, we have limited opportunity to discuss beyond what we have done so far.
“But I want to ensure the family of our colleague, Senator Ike Ekweremadu and Nigerians, that the Senate will continue to engage with our ministry of foreign affairs as well as our high commission in London.
“The High Commission has done so much but we still expect that it will continue to provide any other further consular services.
“We have also mandated our committee on foreign affairs to engage with the British high commission here in Nigeria, to find more details on this case, as as far as the high commission is involved.
“There will be a delegation to London to see Senator Ike Ekweremadu and his wife. A delegation from the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs of the Senate will leave in the next two days to London for that purpose.
“I want to urge all federal government institutions that can do anything to ensure that justice prevails in this case, that they do so.”