The UK government has rejected a request to transfer Ike Ekweremadu, former Deputy Senate President, to Nigeria to compete his jail sentence for organ trafficking.
Ekweremadu is serving a sentence of nine years and eight months after being found guilty of conspiring to exploit a man for his kidney.
President Bola Tinubu dispatched a high-level delegation to the United Kingdom to engage British authorities earlier in the month.
The delegation, which met with officials at the UK Ministry of Justice in London, included Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Maitama Tuggar, and the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi.
The team was later received at the Nigerian High Commission in London by Ambassador Mohammed Maidugu, the Acting High Commissioner to the United Kingdom.
According to credible sources, the meeting formed part of President Bola Tinubu’s efforts to secure either Ekweremadu’s early release or a review of his sentence on humanitarian and legal grounds.
But UK Guardian reported on Monday that British government rejected the request.
The newspaper quoted a source at the Ministry of Justice as confirming that the request was rejected.
“It is understood the UK government was concerned that Nigeria could offer no guarantees that Ekweremadu would continue his prison sentence after being deported,” the report read.
A government spokesperson said it could not comment on individual prisoners. They added: “Any prisoner transfer is at our discretion following a careful assessment of whether it would be in the interests of justice.”
A source said: “The UK will not tolerate modern slavery and any offender will face the full force of UK law.”
Beatrice Ekweremadu, who was sentenced to four years and six months, with half spent in custody, was released earlier this year and has since returned to Nigeria.
The UK authorities are yet to formally react to the development.
