Nigeria’s House Of Representatives have decided to wade into the organ harvesting case involving former deputy senate president Ike Ekweremadu and his wife Beatrice, in the United Kingdom.
The house pleaded with the British government to treat the situation fairly.
Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila, who has been advocating a cause he called “legislative diplomacy,” specifically stated that he would get in touch with Lindsay Hoyle, the Speaker of the British House of Commons, in the hopes of persuading the country to follow the due process in Ekweremadu’s probe.
Gbajabiamila emphasized that Nigeria needed to apply diplomatic pressure on the British government.
This was stated by the Speaker in response to a resolution of urgent public significance filed by Abdulkadir Abdullahi, a member of the House, who called for justice and fairness for all parties involved.
The Specialist Crime Team of the Metropolitan Police in London had detained Ekweremadu and his wife, Beatrice, for allegedly conspiring to take Nwamini David, a youngster who is presently in protective care, for organ harvesting.
This was said by the Speaker in response to a member of the House named Abdulkadir Abdullahi’s motion of urgent public significance, which called for justice and fairness for all parties involved in the case.
Read: UK varsity suspends Ike Ekweremadu as its visiting professor
Ekweremadu and his wife Beatrice were detained by the Specialist Crime Team of the Metropolitan Police in London for allegedly conspiring to take Nwamini David, a youngster who is presently in protective care, for organ harvesting.
“I have spoken with the Nigerian High Commissioner (to the UK, Sharafa Ishola) who has been extremely proactive in this matter and I expressed the need for him to continue to avail Senator Ekweremadu with all the necessary assistance that he will need to prove his case,” Gbajabiamila said.
“I think this should be heightened as well to the UK Parliament. I would try and get in touch with the Speaker of the Parliament whom I was opportune to meet with and had fruitful discussions with just a couple of months ago. I believe the Chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Buba Yusuf, should also get in touch with his foreign affairs counterpart in the UK Parliament.
“So, it is important that we apply diplomatic pressure. Nigeria has very strong diplomatic ties with the United Kingdom and all those areas must be explored. I wish the Senator and his family well. We cannot imagine what they are going through at this time.”
Moving the motion, Abdullahi said, “We cannot have a situation where a simple allegation that has not been thoroughly investigated would result in a high-ranking public officer who has served and is still serving the Nigeria public and the Nigerian State and he has a diplomatic passport. We cannot allow this to happen. If it can happen to somebody of Ekweremadu’s status, I wonder what would happen to ordinary Nigerians.
“Secondly, as a diplomatic passport holder, there are status and privileges that he is supposed to enjoy. But from what is happening so far, we feel that all the privileges and status that he is supposed to enjoy has been thrown to the dustbin.”
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