Sonia, the daughter of federal lawmaker, Ike Ekweremadu, on Monday, appeared in court over organ harvesting allegations.
According to Daily Mail, the younger Ekweremadu was accused alongside her father Ike Ekweremadu, 60, her mother Beatrice Ekweremadu, 56, and 50-year-old doctor Obinna Obeta of conspiracy to arrange the travel of another person with a view to exploitation.
The daughter is faced with accusation of trafficking a homeless man into the United Kingdom to harvest his organs for herself.
It was reported that Ms Ekweremadu has not entered a plea but a trial date has been set for 31 January, 2023.
According to reports, the accused facilitated the man’s travel from Lagos to London to remove one of his kidneys.
Prosecutors claim the plot was to harvest the man’s organ for Sonia’s benefit.
Sonia has a kidney-related disease and has been on dialysis for some time, the court has been told.
They were arrested after the young man, who previously lived on the streets of Lagos, turned up at Staines police station, claiming he was the victim of trafficking.
The man told officers he had arrived in the UK on February 20 this year and had been taken to Royal Free Hospital for tests, none of which he consented to.
The Daily Mail added that after these tests, the man said he had returned to the house he had been staying in, where he was ‘treated effectively as a slave’.
He said he escaped the address and was homeless for three days before going to the police.
Ike, a barrister and former deputy president of the Nigerian Senate, and his wife Beatrice, were arrested in the UK on 21 June, after flying in to Heathrow from Turkey.
Last week, Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court Abuja ordered the interim forfeiture of Ekweremadu’s assets following an ex-parte motion by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, subsequently described the court’s ruling as “hasty” and a “selective judgement”.
