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Ekweremadu resumes trial in London court As He denies paying £7K to buy kidney
The embattled former deputy Senate President of Nigeria, Senator Ike Ekweremadu has debunked the allegations that he offered money to a kidney donor to save his ill daughter Sonia.
According to the allegations presented by the prosecutor, Senator Ekweremadu offered the sum of £7,000 to a 21-year-old trader whom he flew to London as Sonia’s cousin under false pretense.
Sonia, 25, Senator Ekweremadu and his wife Beatrice also flew alongside the 21-year-old in a bid to carry out the organ harvest and commence transplant operation.
As reported by Punch Newspaper, proceedings resumed on Wednesday, February 8 where the defence counsel, Martin Hicks maintained that the alleged donor was acting “altruistically”.
Hicks, said:
“Be alive please to the possible cultural differences between this country and that of Nigeria, particularly to altruistic donation. “We say the issue in this case is simple – did there exist an agreement to exploit (the donor) in the way the prosecution allege and if so, who was a party to it?
“In Nigerian society, there is an expression ‘everyone is each other’s keeper’ and the altruistic donation of organs is not regarded there as such a rare event as it is in this country.”
The defense counsel further argued that his client (Ekweremadu) did not make any visit between February and March of 2022 to the Royal Free Hospital who had declared the alleged donor unsuitable for the kidney harvest.
Hicks said:
“In April 2022 and with the assistance of Diwe, he continued the family search for a suitable donor for his daughter Sonia and that search continues.
“We question whether (the donor) was exploited as suggested by the prosecution.”
Counsel to Sonia, John Femi Ola revealed that the 25-year-old daughter of the Nigerian lawmaker suffered a severe kidney disease that led to a weekly dialysis treatment.
Ola said:
“The treatment is for the rest of her life unless there is a transplant in the future which now must be much in doubt given the publicity this case has attracted.”
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