Leaders of top south-eastern groups have expressed divided opinions over the move of the Federal Government to transfer a former Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, from a United Kingdom correctional facility to a Nigerian custodial centre.
While some queried the plan which they said was meant to boost President Bola Tinubu’s 2027 re-election chances, others said motives did not matter.
The embattled senator was convicted in the UK for organ trafficking.
Ekweremadu and his wife, Beatrice, were arrested by the London Metropolitan Police in June 2022 after a man was presented as a cousin to their daughter, Sonia, in an attempt to facilitate a kidney transplant for her.
The incident led to their conviction under the UK Modern Slavery Act in 2023.
While Ekweremadu was sentenced to nine years and eight months in prison, his wife received four years and six months jail term.
Beatrice was released earlier this year and has since returned to Nigeria.
However, President Bola Tinubu sent a high-level delegation to London to discuss the case of the former Deputy Senate President.
PUNCH Online reported that the Federal Government was seeking arrangements that would allow Ekweremadu to serve the remainder of his sentence in Nigeria.
The delegation, led by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar, and the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, met with officials of the UK Ministry of Justice to discuss Ekweremadu’s incarceration and the possibility of allowing him to serve the remainder of his sentence in Nigeria.
Following the meeting, the delegation visited the Nigerian High Commission in London, where the Acting High Commissioner, Ambassador Mohammed Maidugu, received them.
Speaking on the matter with Sunday PUNCH, the President of the Igbo National Council, Chilos Godsent, questioned the motive and timing of the government’s request, warning against what he described as “political manipulation” or “vendetta” disguised as compassion.
He accused former President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration of failing to protect Ekweremadu during his legal ordeal in the UK.
Godsent argued that the negligence allowed British authorities to try a sitting senator of the Federal Republic.
He said, “There is one thing that is really not clear: are they bringing him back to Nigeria to set him free or bringing him back to put him on trial, or to let him continue his jail term? These things are not really clear.
“That is why people are sceptical that he can be brought back and then, as part of political vendetta, he might be retried, which is not proper. It is better to allow him to serve his term in the UK, where he was found guilty. Why this time, why this election period? It is because they want to use him to play politics.
“Earlier, if the government had put in efforts for him as a citizen of this country to compel the British government, there wouldn’t have been any need for the UK government to try him as a senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria when this issue took place. That was negligence on the part of the Nigerian government.”
While commending Tinubu for what they described as a “laudable” plan if the intention was to reintegrate Ekweremadu with his family and community, he cautioned that any attempt to use his return for political ends would be condemned.
