Ike Ekweremadu’s daughter has denied bringing a homeless guy into the UK to have his kidney removed.
Along with her mother Beatrice, 56, father Ekweremadu, 60, and doctor Obinna Obeta, 50, Sonia Ekweremadu, 25, is accused of the crimes.
At the Old Bailey on December 20, Ike, Beatrice, and Obeta all denied conspiring to set up another person’s journey with the intention of exploitation, while Sonia pleaded not guilty today (Friday), according to the Daily Mail.
They are accused of conspiring to arrange a 21-year-old man’s travel between 1 August 2021 and 5 May 2022 to take advantage of him, together with other family members and Isaac Ekweremadu, who still resides in Nigeria.
It is stated that the organisation organised his flight from Lagos to London to have one of his kidneys removed for Sonia, who has a condition relating to her kidneys.
The young man, who had previously lived on the streets of Lagos, claimed he was a victim of trafficking at the Staines police station, leading to the arrest of Ike and Beatrice Ekweremadu.
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The man said that on February 20, 2018, he landed in the UK and was transported to Royal Free Hospital for testing, none of which he gave his approval for.
The man claimed that after the tests, he went back to the residence where he was “treated effectively as a slave.”
Before approaching the police, he claimed to have left the address and been homeless for three days.
According to information obtained by Daily Mail, the trial will start on January 31 at the Old Bailey before High Court Justice Adam Johnson.
Ike, a lawyer and former Senate vice president, and his wife Beatrice were detained in the UK on June 21 after arriving from Turkey via Heathrow.
Since 2003, Ike has been re-elected to the Senate for five straight terms.
He served as the representative of Nigeria at the Glasgow COP26 summit in 2021.
Ike has served as the Senate’s vice president three times, a position he compared to leading the House of Commons.
He said that for many years, he had been a senior congressman and well-known philanthropist.
Beatrice and Sonia are both out on bail, but Ike and Obeta are both being held at HMPs Wandsworth and Belmarsh, respectively.
