May 03, (THEWILL) – Ahead of the May 5 sentencing of the embattled former Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu and his wife, Beatrice, by the Old Bailey Court, the Nigerian Senate has urged the UK Government to grant the convicted couple clemency.
The resolution of the Senate followed a motion on the matter moved at plenary on Wednesday, by Chukwuka Utazi, a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) lawmaker representing Enugu North Senatorial District.
The resolution followed a similar call by the House of Representatives on Tuesday.
Also, on Tuesday, Speaker of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) parliament, Sidie Tunis, pleaded with the Old Bailey Court to show mercy to Ekweremadu and his wife.
The ECOWAS leader, in a letter addressed to the Chief Clerk of the court, described Ekweremadu as “a major asset to the ECOWAS region”.
THEWILL reports that the Old Bailey Court had convicted Ekweremadu, his wife, and a doctor for facilitating the travel of a young man from Lagos to Britain, to harvest his kidney.
The Ekweremadus allegedly offered up to N3.5 million to the young man to donate a kidney to Sonia, their sick daughter — an action forbidden under the Modern Slavery Act of the UK.
Justice Jeremy Johnson of the Old Bailey had set May 5, 2023, to pass a sentence on the convicts.
