Four hours inside Old Bailey Criminal Court. Here’s what I saw at Ekweremadus’ sentencing

Ekweremadu, Nigeria’s longest-serving Deputy Senate President who held the office for 12 years, his wife Beatrice and Obeta were to be sentenced that day after being found guilty of exploiting a vulnerable victim for illegal organ harvesting. The case came to light in May 2022 after the victim – David Nwamini, entered Staines Police Station on May 5, 2022, reporting that he had been trafficked from Nigeria into the UK for a kidney transplant.

“In February 2022, the victim was transported to London and was kept under the direction and financial control of the defendants. The conspirators’ plan was for the victim to provide a kidney to Sonia Ekweremadu in exchange for the suggested amount of either £2,400 or £7,000 and the promise of work in the UK.” the Crown Prosecutor’s statement said.

Sonia suffers from focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) nephrotic syndrome described by the US National Institute of Health as one of the most common forms of acquired glomerular disease leading to end-stage kidney disease (ESKD).

Since the trial started in May 2022, the Ekweremadus have been a subject of critical public commentary on the internet and international media, but many critics were of mixed feelings.

“You need to go there (Court One) now and check if the crowd is not much already. Bags and electronic devices are prohibited in the courtroom,” the friendly security guard told me and directed me to a shop at the train station, two-minute walk from the court, to keep my bag at £3 for the whole day and £1 per hour.

At the time I made my way to Court One’s separate entrance, there was just one person waiting. A relative of the Ekweremadus who had been following the case since 2022. We exchanged pleasantries and he confirmed I was at the right place.

One of the early callers was former Minority Leader of the Senate, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, who arrived around 9:13 am. At 9:30 am, the number of people on the queue had increased to about 20, but the court security guard announced that due to limited space at the gallery, only 15 people would be allowed in, and immediate family will be considered first. I was resolute that nothing would stop me from getting a seat inside the court. I can’t travel 800km, stabbed sleep to make it into London and end up outside the court after my arrival two hours before schedule. Only 12 of us on the queue were thoroughly scanned and allowed in at 10 am, Ekweremadu’s children, and two other family members later joined us at the lobby where we waited for more than 30 minutes.

Around 10:50 am when we were eventually allowed into the public gallery, all was set inside the courtroom. The defendants, prosecuting and defense counsels and other court officials were already seated. The sentencing started at exactly 11:00 am after the arrival of Justice Johnson Jeremy at 10:59 am.

The Old Bailey: An Architectural Masterpiece

The Old Bailey is widely described as the world’s most famous criminal court largely because of its history and some of the cases that have been heard there.

Opened in 1907, the court sits on the site of the former Newgate prison (London’s most notorious prison). It has gone through different renovations and the building houses 18 courts. Court Number One holds a special place in history as the room where many famous and infamous cases have been held in more than a century, like the case of Edith Thompson sentenced to death over her series of letters to her boyfriend and husband’s killer. Her letters were produced as ‘evidence of incitement to murder’ and the case is still being described as a miscarriage of justice.

Aside from being a criminal court, you cannot but admire it as an architectural masterpiece. The high ceiling with a glass roof that lends brightness to the room, the Corinthian pilasters, hefty brown wooden beams, the large Palladian broken pediment, and more, are the type one would expect to see in a palace and not where people are sentenced.

“Court Number One is magnificent, and its configuration is heavy with meaning and symbolism. It’s perhaps the most famous at Old Bailey and scores of people have been sentenced here,” a British barrister Thomas Grant wrote.

Getting a seat to witness sentencing at the gallery of Court One is considered no mean feat. According to Grant, during the early part of the 20th century, “people take up their place in the queue for the public gallery as early as 2 am, with a view to selling it on; the going rate in one trial was £5 at that time.”

To the judge’s left and the defendant’s right are counsel’s rows, running perpendicular to the dock which faces the judge’s bench. The gallery where we sat is cut off from the action beneath.

Court Number One is a room with classical grandeur but the atmosphere there on Friday was tense with sombre expressions from the defendants and their families.

Save for the dock and other arrangements, it would have passed as a living room in one of the duplexes in Ikoyi, Nigeria’s most affluent neighbourhood home to the extremely rich and politicians in Ekweremadu’s class. But on Friday, it was a place of dread for Ekweremadu, his wife and Obeta. As I gathered, their trial ran for a year in a different court, but the sentencing was moved to Court Number One, a room for high-profile cases.

Ekweremadu Docked

Dressed in an ash colour shirt and a burgundy sweat top with his glasses hanging on the sweatshirt, Ekweremadu sat first on the front row in the dock to the judge’s left, a prison official sat between him and Obeta dressed in joggers and a sweatshirt. Beatrice who sat calmly behind Obeta in a purple top and a black jacket, tied a black turban around her head that firmly covered most parts of her ears.

Ekweremadu calmly waved at his family and Abaribe who sat in the front row of the gallery while his children sat in the second row.

Like a lamb to the slaughter and a silent sheep before the shearers, Nigeria’s former Deputy Senate President sat quietly in the dock. Calm and sombre, with his hands folded around his chest for the most part of the three hours, if looks are not sometimes deceptive, then it will not be out of place to say Ekweremadu was remorseful.

From the gallery of Court Number One, I watched as one of the men who direct the orchestral of Nigerian politics looked humble and feeble. The only time he spoke, he uttered just one word – ‘present’, during the roll call of defendants. By the time the sitting eventually started at exactly 11 am, one hour behind schedule, and the prosecutor began to reel out the charges, they were quite disturbing – obtaining a fabricated affidavit to prove that Nwamini is Sonia’s cousin. Establishing a corrupt relationship with a staff of the London hospital to coach Nwamini to lie that he was a family member willingly donating his organ. Not providing enough information to help the victim understand the risk involved in transplanting. Trying to exploit a vulnerable person, not putting anything in place to secure his future healthcare needs if he donated a kidney, among others.

David Nwamini Ukpo

Although he was not in court, in his statement read by the Prosecutor, Nwamini, 21 (now believed to be 22), claimed he was never informed that he was going to London to donate his organ. During the sentencing, a video popped up on the screen showing the forehead of a man with an Igbo red cap. Many believe it was Nwamini who joined the sentencing virtually.

He told the court he lost his mother at a young age and came from a village with no access to power supply and water where they defecated outside. Nwamini said he dropped out of school at 15 and came to Lagos where he started selling phone accessories with a wheelbarrow with ₦30,000 given to him by his uncle and earned ₦3,500 daily.

“I just wanted to work, get educated, send money home and make my family proud,” he said.

As the Court heard, the kidney transplant process started in 2021 with the search and identification of a donor, a task assigned to Obeta who was ‘recruited’ by Dr Diwe Ekweremadu, Ekweremadu’s brother and Obeta’s former classmate at medical school. Obeta became the go-to person because he had a transplant at the Royal Free Hospital in 2021 and claimed the donor was his cousin.

Trips were made to Abuja for medical tests which Nwamini claimed he thought were part of his UK job placement process. At the Royal Free Hospital in London where the transplant was to be done in 2022, after a kidney screening, the consultant became suspicious about the circumstances surrounding the proposed transplant and decided the transplant could not go ahead. According to the prosecutor, when the transplant failed at the London hospital, the family planned to return Nwamini to Nigeria and his ticket had been booked for May 3, 2022, but on that day, he fled the house he was kept and walked into Staines Police station in London on May 5 to report himself as a trafficked victim.

Sonia who appeared to be startled by some of Nwamini’s statements couldn’t hide her reactions. “Wow!” she audibly exclaimed as the prosecutor read the part of Nwamini’s statement saying he was not aware that he was going to the UK to donate his organ and would never have agreed if he was told.

Nwamini claimed he was promised a job in the UK which has been his dream, now that he’s in the UK, he said his life and that of his family in Nigeria might be in danger.

“Since coming to the Police my life has changed. I don’t want to return to Nigeria because these people are extremely powerful and could arrest or kill me in Nigeria,” he told the court. “I’m happy to start my life here.”

He also does not want any compensation from the Ekweremadus whom he described as ‘bad people’. “I just want to put the incident behind me and start a new life,” he said.

The Prosecutor also claimed that the family attempted to get another donor to be exploited.

The defendants’ counsels who took turns to respond to the prosecutor argued that the Ekweremadus took the action under stress.

“It’s the nightmare of every parent to watch their child slip away,” Beatrice’s counsel argued.

Ekweremadu’s counsel also argued that Nwamini lied about his age and went to the Police because he didn’t want to return to Nigeria.

“Before going to the Police, he had been taken in by someone legally qualified who had advised him,” the counsel argued.

Many observers are also of the same opinion.

The debates by the counsels lasted for two hours, 30 minutes; at 1:30 pm, the court went on a 10-minute break.

During the break, comments about Justice Johnson Jeremy’s body language dominated the conversation in the lobby, while some friends and family were hopeful that the judge may likely temper justice with mercy, Sonia wasn’t convinced. She believes the judge’s body language cannot be trusted.

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A Substantial Fall From Grace 

When Justice Jeremy returned for judgement after the break, he condemned the Ekweremadus’ action but said Nwamini’s decision to trade his kidney for money and work visa is common among people living in multi-dimensional poverty who are desperate to do anything, including donating organs for money without minding the risk involved.

“People trafficking across international borders for the harvesting of human organs is a form of slavery. It treats human beings and their body parts as commodities to be bought and sold. It is a trade that preys on poverty and misery and desperation,” Johnson said. “The evidence shows that those who are impoverished often living in multi-dimensional poverty, desperate for a better life and ignorant of the true risks are sometimes willing to donate their organs for money or the chance to work in the UK.”

Nigeria has 133 million multi-dimensionally poor people, and over the years, Malaysia has been a top destination for young Nigerians willing to donate their kidneys for money (there is presently no sufficient data to back this). At a time, it was common to see comments from young Nigerians on social media about selling their kidney for N10m in Malaysia. There are reports of some who have died or suffered ill health after selling their kidney. In 2015, a 28-year-old Nigerian, identified as Chukwudi from Imo State, reportedly died while trying to sell his kidney in Malaysia.

The trafficking of human beings for organ removal is not new. “With a shortage of legally sourced organs around the world, it is estimated that the illegal trade of human organs generates about $1.5 billion dollars each year from roughly 12,000 illegal transplants,” a report published in the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM) says.

The judge described Obeta, who was jailed for 10 years, as ‘thoroughly dishonest’ “for keeping a substantial sum of money that was paid by Ekweremadu and was intended for the donor”, taking advantage of Nwamini’s young age, his isolation from his immediate family and his poverty.

The judge said after lying in 2021 that the donor of his kidney was his cousin, Obeta tried to manipulate the system again for the Ekweremadus.

Ekweremadu, jailed for nine years and eight months, was described as the driving force directing operations but keeping his distance ‘by getting others to do your bidding’. Jeremy described his conviction as “a very substantial fall from grace”.

The judge jailed Beatrice for four years and six months because her “incarceration will have a significant impact on Sonia. She will no longer be able to rely on your presence as a source of care and support.”

Jeremy said: “You will each serve part of the sentence in custody before being released on license when you are released you will be on license until the end of your sentence.”

51 Pages Letter

Aside from ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo who pleaded for leniency, the judge confirmed that he got 51 pages of statements from personalities testifying to Ekweremadu’s character. “I have been provided with a bundle of 51 pages of character statements…I have read all of them.” He also made reference to a letter by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) claiming that Ekweremadu owns about 40 properties in the US, UK, UAE and Nigeria. In December 2022, Ekweremadu’s son Lloyd alleged that EFCC’s letter to the court made the court to reject his father’s bail application.

Some of those who wrote the judge include the Nigerian Senate President, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Bishop of Enugu, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Attorney General of the Federation, community leaders, beneficiaries of Ekweremadu’s foundation, Sonia Ekweremadu whose letter was described as emotive, among others.

Did the letters have any significant impact on the sentencing? We may not be able to say but the judge said “The applicable starting points are custodial sentences of 10 years in the case of Obinna Obeta, 10 years and six months in the case of Ekweremadu and six years in the case of Beatrice Ekweremadu.”

While Obeta was in the dock wiping his tears with his handkerchief, a look of dejected exhaustion was on the face of the Ekweremadus. Immediately after the judgement, the judge ordered them to be taken out, and the Police made their way into the courtroom; at the public gallery, there were about four Police officers behind us at the door. Were they expecting any disturbance?

Some, especially those at the court, believe Ekweremadu’s ordeal was politically motivated.

The words of the Nigeria Uber driver who picked me up at the court keep reverberating – “he wouldn’t have gone through this if everything was alright at home”.

Some Nigerians have also argued that if Ekweremadu and David Nwamini’s case is a true reflection of the Nigerian society as the judge inferred with his reference to multidimensional poverty, then what transpired at Court Number One on Friday, May 5, 2023, is a shame of a nation!

Story: Michael Orodare

Cover Design: Elisha Ubiah