EKWEREMADU: VICTIM OF ORGAN HARVESTING PLOT SAYS HE THOUGHT HE WAS IN UK TO WORK
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Agency Report
According to testimony given to judges, the Nigerian street vendor at the center of the alleged organ-harvesting scheme involving former Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu believed he was coming to Britain to work.
The young man was allegedly brought to the UK in exchange for a monetary incentive in order to help the ailing daughter of the former Deputy Senate President.
The young man, who was testifying at the Old Bailey on Monday, reportedly admitted he had no idea why he had been brought to the doctor, according to the Irish News.
At a session at the Royal Free Hospital, he revealed he was being “managed” and instructed to lie about having a family link to the Ekweremadus.
The Old Bailey has been informed that he was ultimately rejected as a donor for 25-year-old Sonia Ekweremadu by a physician at the north London hospital.
In order to exploit the young man, Ekweremadu, 60, his wife Beatrice, 56, his daughter Sonia, 25, and medical “middleman” Obinna Obeta, 50, are accused of plotting to arrange or enable the young man’s visit to Britain.
The young man, who was 21 at the time of the incident, claimed he believed he was traveling to Britain to find employment.
He also explained to the court how his carpenter father and mother raised him in a community in Nigeria as the oldest of nine children.
He attended a rural school up until the age of 15, when his parents told the court that he had to leave because they needed money.
He claimed that his uncle hired him to work selling phone accessories and took him to live with him in Lagos.
After four years, he launched his own company and began making N3,000 or N4,000 a day selling phone accessories out of a wheelbarrow in the market.
Hugh Davies KC, the prosecutor, questioned how he managed to fly from Lagos to London.
The witness, who gave evidence by video link with the assistance of an interpreter, said, “Obinna (Obeta) is the man who brought me here to this country.
“He asked me what am I doing and I told him I’m doing business selling phone accessory in Lagos and he start talking about coming to London.
“He going to take me to London, stay at his house, and I will work.”
Mr Davies asked, “What did you think you were going to do when you came to London?”
He replied, “To work, any type of work that I would get paid.”
The court heard how he traveled to Abuja, the capital of Nigeria, for tests before being brought to have his passport photographed.
He said before the judges that the first time he had ever seen his passport was when he went for a visa interview and that he hadn’t seen it since the day he was scheduled to fly to the UK.
He said he thought Dr Obeta was helping him because he was “from God.”
After travelling to the UK, the man was pictured sharing a meal with Sonia Ekweremadu and smiling into the camera.
He disclosed that during the course of the me, those present “only discuss for themselves” and did not ask him any questions
Later that week, the victim disclosed that he was taken by Dr Obeta for his consultation at the Royal Free Hospital.
He told judges he thought it was for a test before he could start work.
Before going inside, they allegedly met Sonia Ekweremadu, a tall Nigerian man who had escorted him on the plane and another woman.
He told judges, “They used to discuss by themselves. Obinna would just tell me where to stay. Like they were controlling me.
“They said I am going to see the doctor. The doctor is going to ask me question and they will give me the answer.”
He was allegedly told to lie that he had been to a “higher institution” school and that he and Sonia Ekweremadu were cousins.
He went on, “Obinna told me that if the doctor asks me if they give me money, if they pay me for what I want to do, I should tell the doctor they no pay me.
“He give me many answer to give the doctor but everything was not true.”
As he entered the hospital, an interpreter told him that what he was doing was “not a small thing,” the court heard.
But the witness said, “I don’t understand the woman when she said what they brought me to do was not a small thing because I did not know why they bring me to the hospital.”
The Ekweremadus, who have an address in Willesden Green, north west London, and Dr Obeta, from Southwark, south London, deny the charge against them and the Old Bailey trial continues.
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