The Chairman/CEO, Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), Abike Dabiri-Erewa has joined others in pleading with the UK government to show leniency with Nigeria’s former Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu who awaiting the verdict of the court on organ harvesting.
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In a statement by Abdur-Rahman Balogun, Head of Media, Public Relations and Protocols of NIDCOM in Abuja, she pleaded with the court to show compassion and sympathy in this case.
Dabiri-Erewa pleaded;
I join men and women of goodwill to plead for clemency for Sen. Ike Ekweremadu, if only even considering the psychological trauma, Sonia, the daughter, would be going through knowing that her parents are in jail because they tried to save her from a health condition she had no control over.
Dabiri-Erewa, who reiterated her pleas, implored the UK government to temper justice with mercy, and admitted that “mistakes have been made, and lessons learnt”.
The NIDCOM boss posited that though there is no ignorance before the law, Ekweremadu and his wife acted under natural instincts of parents to save an ailing daughter, and not for commercial purposes.
Her appeal is coming after similar calls from the House of Representatives, the ECOWAS Parliament and the Senate.
After a six-week organ trafficking trial at the Old Bailey, the couple and their doctor, Obinna Obeta, on March 23, were found guilty of facilitating the travel of a young man to Britain on behalf of Ekweremadu’s sick daughter, Sonia, with a view to his exploitation.
