Former deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu, has denied offering money to buy kidney from an intending donor for his ailing daughter, Sonia.
Recall that the lawmaker, his wife, Beatrice, and their 25-year-old daughter are on trial in London for allegedly trafficking a young man from Nigeria to donate kidney.
The Ekweremadus were alleged to have offered £7,000 to the 21-year-old trader whom they flew to London and falsely presented as Sonia’s cousin so as to obtain his kidney.
But, in his opening addresses at the Old Bailey on Wednesday, lawyers for the defendant, Martin Hicks, insisted they believed the donor was acting “altruistically,” according to Daily Mail.
Hicks told jurors, “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 alleges 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.
“He will also say he was told (the donor) had offered to altruistically donate a kidney to Sonia.”
Hicks said Ekweremadu did not attend any visits to the Royal Free Hospital in February and March last year, which concluded that the donor was unsuitable.
He added, “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.
He has been in custody of the UK authorities since June 23 while his wife was granted bail by a criminal court in London.
Source: Vanguardngr
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