Nigeria’s former Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu will be celebrating the 2022 Christmas in prison as the Central Criminal Court in London, the United Kingdom denied him bail.
Ekweremadu and his wife, Beatrice, have since been standing trial in the UK for allegedly plotting to traffic a Nigerian into the country to harvest his kidney for their ailing daughter.
Beatrice had already been granted bail by the court, while Ekweremadu, a lawyer and serving Senator representing Enugu West Senatorial District in the National Assembly, has been cooling his heels in prison.
Beatrice was charged with arranging or facilitating the travel of another person with an intent to exploit, between August 1 last year and May 5, under the Modern Slavery Act 2015.
On the other hand, Ekweremadu was charged with conspiracy to arrange or facilitate travel of another person with an intent to exploit, namely organ harvesting.
However, the Central Criminal Court, in a pre-trial hearing on Tuesday, denied the senator bail on grounds that he would flee the country.
Ekweremadu’s lawyer, in the bail application, argued that the Nigerian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom and the Attorney-General of the Federal had written to the court that the former Deputy Senate President was not a flight risk.
The lawyer stated that a guarantee to produce him should he pose a flight risk was given and that the Nigeria High Commission in the UK had equally given the option of tagging Ekweremadu electronically to monitor his movement.
Ekweremadu’s lawyer further argued that the lawmaker had proven to be a caring and responsible father and could not escape from London, abandoning his wife and sick daughter.
The defence counsel added that they had sureties and securities of nearly half a million pounds sterling from 11 people to secure Ekweremadu’s release on bail.
The court, however, denied Ekweremadu bail, saying the bail would not make much difference as the trial is just over a month away.
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