A senior Nigerian politician, his wife, and a middleman have been convicted of exploiting a young street trader from Lagos whose kidney they needed in order to save the life of the couple’s seriously ill daughter.

Senator Ike Ekweremadu, 60, his wife Beatrice, 56, and medical “middleman” Obinna Obeta, 50, were found guilty of conspiring to arrange or facilitate the travel of the young man to Britain to exploit him for his kidney.

Their 25-year-old daughter, Sonia Ekweremadu—who has been diagnosed with a serious kidney condition called focal segmental glomerulosclerosis with nephrotic syndrome—was acquitted of the same offence.

It is the first conviction for this kind of offence under the Modern Slavery Act, which was passed in 2015.

The trial at the Old Bailey heard the 21-year-old man—who cannot be named for legal reasons—was falsely presented as Sonia’s cousin in a bid to persuade surgeons to carry out the £80,000 operation at the Royal Free Hospital in north London.

The donor was rejected by nephrologists at the hospital and the transplant did not go ahead, but the couple then sought out other donors in Nigeria and switched their attention to Turkey, where the rules on unrelated people donating organs are more lax.

Ike Ekweremadu and Obeta, who both gave evidence, insisted the young man was an “altruistic donor” and claimed such selfless acts were common among the Ibo tribe to which they belonged.

Sonia Ekweremadu did not give evidence while her mother said she had no involvement in the arrangements for the donor and had only lied about him being related to her daughter because she did not want to get him in trouble.

Beatrice Ekweremadu told the jury: “My family means everything to me. Our children are the most important gift God has given to us and we cherish them.”

“What I teach my children is this family, each and every one of us, that’s the only thing we have so if anything is happening to your siblings you have to get on it. When something is happening to one of us, one of our siblings, nobody will rest until that is solved,” she added.

Among those who gave character references for Ike Ekweremadu was the Archbishop of Enugu, Emmanuel Chukwuma, who said he had known the senator for 29 years.

Chukwuma said Ekweremadu was “always helping the poor” and added, “His character was unquestionable.”

Another character witness described Ekweremadu as “naturally humble,” “selfless,” and an “icon of integrity.”

Giving evidence, Obeta—who had undergone a kidney transplant himself in London in 2021—admitted he had lied on his paperwork, claiming his donor was his cousin, but he added, “I was desperate to survive.”

Ike Ekweremadu’s brother, Diwe, was a former classmate of Obeta at medical school and knew he had undergone a kidney transplant in Britain.

Diwe reached out to Obeta, asking his own donor—who was also a Lagos street trader—to ask around and that is how they found the young man who was chosen to donate a kidney to Sonia.

But the donor told the trial he had no idea he was being brought to Britain for a kidney transplant.

The witness said he earned 300–400 naira (55 to 72 pence) a day selling mobile phone accessories when he was contacted in late 2021 by a stranger—Obeta—who called him from England and offered to bring him to London and find him work.

Asked about what happened when he arrived at the Royal Free Hospital, he said: “The doctor asked me if I was knew why I was there and I said I didn’t. He said he wanted to do a kidney transplant. I was shocked. That was the first time I heard about a kidney transplant.”

He said the doctor told him not to worry, and they would not be going ahead with the operation.

The witness said, “The doctor said I’m not going to touch you and I should stop worrying and not be afraid, because I was crying and shaking.”

Although the donor denied agreeing to be paid for his kidney, prosecutor Hugh Davies, KC, maintained the Ekweremadus agreed to pay him 3.5 million naira (£7,000).

Ike Ekweremadu, giving evidence, said he received an invoice for 4.5 million naira—3.5 million for the donor and 1 million for the agent, Obeta—and felt he was being “scammed.”

He said he was sure the donor was not being paid.

Defence barrister Martin Hicks, KC, asked him, “Why not at this stage say we are being scammed Dr. Obeta, end of, stop?”

He replied: “My daughter’s life was on the line so if we stop we will be putting my daughter’s life in danger. So we just keep moving. Everybody was obviously taking advantage of my daughter’s ill health.”

Ike Ekweremadu, from the opposition People’s Democratic Party, has been a senator representing Enugu West constituency since 2003. He was deputy president of Nigeria’s Senate between 2007 and 2019.

He was remanded in custody, along with his wife and Obeta, and they are to be sentenced on May 5.

The Human Tissue Authority said in an emailed statement The Epoch Times: “The Human Tissue Authority regulates the donation of organs in the UK from living people.  We make decisions on whether the donation can go ahead based on criteria set out in law.  All living donations must be made with consent, free of any duress, coercion or reward.”