It seems the continuous incarceration of Ike Ekweremadu, the senator representing Enugu West senatorial district and former three-term deputy president of the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in a United Kingdom jail is no longer because of any offence committed in that country but a continuation of his political persecution by his home government, which began in 2015. With his emergence as the deputy president of the Senate, with bi-partisan support from the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), to the anger of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Ekweremadu has not known peace ever since. His emergence as the deputy Senate president also came with the added responsibility of the leader of the opposition in Nigeria as the highest political office holder in the PDP.

Determined to shoulder this responsibility with his characteristic charisma, candour, integrity, discipline, forthrightness, knowledge and wisdom that are required of an opposition leader, Ekweremadu, a lawyer, lawmaker and scholar of law, immediately set out to reform and reposition the PDP into a virile opposition party that could hold the ruling party accountable on behalf of the Nigerian people. Unfortunately, the ruling APC seemed equally determined to misrule Nigeria and prevent and supress the opposition. And to achieve this agenda, the character of Ekweremadu, the leader of the opposition PDP, had to be assassinated and his image tarnished with corruption allegations in order to effectively delegitimize his role as an opposition leader. 

To this end, Ekweremadu’s track record of unblemished public service, which started with his election as the chairman of his native Ani Nri Local Government Area in 1997, to his appointment as chief of staff and later secretary to the government of Enugu State between 1999 and 2003, before his election to the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in 2003, became a subject of malicious attacks. First, he was charged along with Senate President Bukola Saraki for the forgery of Senate rules following their election to the leadership of the Senate in 2015. And when the case did not see the light of day because it was one of the most ridiculous charges in the history of Nigeria ever brought before a competent court of jurisdiction to challenge a transparent and open democratic legislative process.

When the forgery case failed, corruption allegations and asset forfeiture proceedings were instituted against Ekweremadu, after laying siege at his residence in the most Gestapo-like manner. But, again, the senator successfully challenged the Nigerian authorities in court, where he affirmed that his assets were duly declared in line with code of conduct for public servants and were acquired with his legitimate income from his salaries and wages and not proceeds of crime. In between, there were several assassination attempts against Ekweremadu and on a day he was presiding over the Senate, thugs mysteriously made their way into the sacred chambers of the Nigerian Senate and carted away the mace. Several years down the line, nobody has been arrested and prosecuted for that high-level criminal trespass on a day Ekweremadu was presiding over the plenary session of the Senate.

Despite his state-sanctioned persecution for political reasons, Ekweremadu managed to make the worst nightmare of the ruling APC come true: revival of the opposition PDP into a virile political party that made a strong comeback in the 2019 general election. His pragmatic leadership style and consensus-building approached helped in no small measure in rallying Nigerians behind the PDP going into the 2019 elections, where the party regained some lost ground. But since the Nigerian authorities could not find any concrete evidence of wrongdoing against Ekweremadu, the British authorities may have provided them a lifeline in their lifelong efforts at nailing the man who made their worst nightmare to come to pass.

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Since June 2022, Ekweremadu has been held in a British jail on charges of human trafficking for organ harvesting of an orphaned minor, to which the senator pleaded not guilty. But like a pack of badly arranged cards, the British authorities have since realised that their case against Ekweremadu would collapse as soon as evidence emerged that the alleged victim was neither a minor nor an orphan but an adult who was a willing organ donor to his ailing daughter; a development the senator fully disclosed to the British High Commission in Nigeria before a medical visa was issued to the donor in preparation for the medical procedure in the UK. But in a twist of fate, on further medical examination in the UK, it was discovered that the donor’s organ was not exactly compatible with that of the senator’s daughter and he was duly discharged to go home without anything removed from his body. It was in his bid to seek asylum in the UK that the donor, David Nwamini, lied to the British authorities at the airport on his return journey to Nigeria that he was a trafficked minor for the purpose of organ harvesting.

Faced with a clear case of embarrassment on the British criminal justice system, which presumes a Nigerian guilty until proven innocent, the British authorities decided to explore another avenue to conceal the obvious error of non-diligent investigation and wrongful prosecution Ekweremadu for a crime he never committed. And this avenue is the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) of Nigeria. In what appears to be a response to enquiries from the Metropolitan Police of London, the EFCC, in a letter dated July18, 2022, addressed to Esther Richardson and signed by ACE I. Abudulkarim Chukkol (director of operations), stated, “The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission is in receipt of your letter reference: Sensitive-Official –Manoa dated 17th July, 2022.

“I can confirm that the commission is currently investigating Senator Ike Ekweremadu for offences bordering on alleged conspiracy, criminal misappropriation of public funds and money laundering’’.

According to the EFCC, Ekweremadu is not being investigated for missing public funds that are traceable to him but on suspicion that his legitimate income is “not commensurate” with his declared assets. And it was on this premise that the Central Criminal Court in London denied the senator bail, claiming he was a flight risk, citing the letter from the EFCC. So, at what point did a case involving allegations of human trafficking for organ harvesting graduate into money laundry and corruption-related offenses?

Ekweremadu was not on the run, as he was never declared wanted by the EFCC, neither was he on the run from the UK because of allegations of human trafficking for organ harvesting. The senator actually left Nigeria a free man and entered the UK to provide care for his ailing daughter. Unfortunately, in continuation of his persecution, which started in 2015, Ekweremadu’s persecutors are happy to have him off the scene in another crucial general election in 2023 and the British authorities have knowingly or unknowingly once again aided and abetted another historic wrongdoing against a section of Nigeria. And his absence is being felt in the opposition PDP as the party is currently in disarray without the experienced leadership of Senator Ike Ekweremadu. Sadly, it was the rat inside that informed the one outside that there was fish in the kitchen. Ekweremadu’s problem may have started away but it is now being orchestrated from a home that should have come to his rescue from institutional racism and prejudice.