Friday 24 June 2022 06:42 PM Lincoln Uni BANS 'organ harvesting' Nigerian professor who 'trafficked teen ... trends now

The University of Lincoln has banned a visiting professor who tried to 'harvest organs from a 15-year that had been trafficked to the UK using a fake passport'.

A consultant working in a NHS hospital refused to remove the vital organ a 15-year-old who was allegedly trafficked to London from the streets of Lagos by the former deputy president of the Nigerian Senate and his wife, a court heard.

Ike Ekweremadu, 60, and Beatrice Ekweremadu, 55, are accused of taking the homeless youngster to the UK from Nigeria to transplant his organs into their daughter who is suffering from kidney failure. 

A University of Lincoln Spokesperson: 'Visiting professors are often, as is in this case, non-resident at the university, unpaid and advisory.

'We are deeply concerned about the nature of these allegations but as this is an active police investigation, we cannot comment further at this stage.

'Whilst this matter is subject to investigation, this person will not be undertaking any duties as visiting professor at Lincoln.'

The doctor at the Royal Free in Camden became suspicious about whether the alleged victim was aware he was the donor of the kidney and whether he was 41 as his passport claimed.

The 15-year-old was given the passport of a 41-year-old in order to get into the UK, but did not know he was there to donate a kidney until he went a hospital appointment in London, a court heard yesterday.

After he arrived in the capital in February he had a string of medical appointments about kidney donation, but a consultant at the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead, North London, became concerned about the boy's real age and if he knew he was there to donate an organ, it is alleged.

Mr Ekweremadu has been an elected senator at the Abuja-based parliament since 2003 after moving into politics after years as a lawyer. His wife, five years his junior, is an academic and doctor and also a major public figure in Nigeria. They are believed to have four adult children. Both deny trafficking the boy.

Prosecutor Damla Ayas told Uxbridge Magistrates Court yesterday: 'The victim was 15. In Nigeria he was approached by both defendants. He was homeless on the streets of Lagos. They deceived him and promised him a better life in the UK. He was given a passport for a 41-year-old. The passport was illegally obtained by these defendants.

'He was provided with a medical travel visa saying the purpose of the travel was to provide medical treatment for the defendants' daughter who was undergoing dialysis in relation to a number of health issues.

'It was premeditated, it was planned. Blood tests were obtained in Nigeria and he travelled to the UK in February this year.

'He was taken to several medical appointments in particular a medical appointment at the Royal Free Hospital and was spoken to by a consultant about the organ harvesting for a kidney transplant.

'The consultant was concerned about his actual age and was concerned he was not aware he was the donor of the kidney. He only found out that the purpose of his visit was for an organ transplant when he visited the hospital'.

Police were alerted to potential offences under modern slavery laws last month.

Ekweremadu has been in the UK for at least the past fortnight having met with members of the Nigerian community in Britain in Lincoln around ten days ago. 

He tweeted: 'It was a pleasure and an honour to receive a letter of appointment by the University of Lincoln, UK, as Visiting

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