Nigerian Senator Ike Ekweremadu, former vice president of the country’s upper house, was found guilty in London on Thursday of wanting to have a young man’s kidney removed for transplant into his daughter.

Ekweremadu, 60, and his wife Beatrice Nwanneka Ekweremadu, 56, were convicted along with Dr. Obinna Obeta, 50, who acted as a “go-between” for bringing a young Nigerian man to the UK for kidney removal and transplantation. to his 25-year-old daughter Sonia.

The young man, a 21-year-old street vendor, had refused surgery after undergoing medical examinations at a hospital in north west London and fled to alert police.

The Ekweremadu family was arrested at London’s Heathrow Airport in June 2022.

Ike Ekweremadu has since been detained in London, while his wife and daughter have been released on bail.

The events took place between August 1, 2021 and May 5, 2022.

Ekweremadu, elected senator from Abuja in 2003, tried to run for governor of Enugu, his home state, last year as an opposition candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), but withdrew after failing to win the party’s support. to win.

The allegations against him sparked controversy in Nigeria, with some expressing sympathy for his family while others expressed outrage.

“Where else in the world would they have a former Senate Vice President — who is still an active Senator — who, though he has been incarcerated for over 200 days, continues to receive his normal salary. What is happening? Why hasn’t he been suspended?” Citizen Gbola, an activist with the “Take It Back” organization, told AFP outside the courthouse in London.