The Prices Their Children Pay – By Olusola Ajiboye

The Ekweremadus could never have imagined what has befallen them today.

From the cosy comfort of luxury, to the dirty confines of prison cell, Ike – Ekweremadu and his wife were arrested by law enforcement agents in London where they had flown-in, for a kidney transplant for their ailing daughter.

Any Unimpressionable Nigerian, used to serial criminality and corruption by the Country’s Rulers may wonder why the fuss in a rich lke Eweremadu, arranging a kidney transplant for his daughter and why the British police are vehement to follow up on an issue which could have been dismissed with a wave of the left hand or swept under the carpet had it occurred on Nigeria shores.

The illegality of Sonia Ekweremadu’s kidney transplant arrangement did not die a natural death because United kingdom is ruled by laws rather than by men. As members of the exclusive novaeu – riche Elites which Nigeria flaunts at the expense of her impoverished millions, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, like his colleagues in top echelons of government and corridors of power are used to riding rough shod on citizens they are elected and paid to protect, enhance their living standard and guarantee access to quality health care delivery.

The reverse is often the case in Nigeria where bizzatine Rulership is the order of the day and few oligarchs in power feed belly – burst, while ordinary citizens hunger in rib – bones. The ordeal of the former Deputy Senate President and his wife took a turn for the worse because the deal for a kidney transplant was skewed in favour of Sonia against the interest of the would be donor.

The deal did not come out clean but clandestinely hatched to keep the targeted donor, Davis Ukpo Nwamini in the dark. Preliminary investigation by the British Police did reveal that the kidney transplant was bereft of procedures and conventions that guide such medical efforts in the United Kingdom.

Ike Ekweremadu, the main facilitator or Initiator, chose to hire a middle man, Obinna – Obetta, a medical practitioner for the job. Dr Obetta obtained four point two (N4.2m) Million Naira as payment for the donor, but pocketed three point seven (N3.7m) Million Naira of the total sum. The deal couldn’t have been dirtier than what the British Investigators have revealed. indeed, the Ekweremadu’s case file stinks because the culprits lied in every material evidence connected with the organ harvesting saga and like a fox caught in its trot, failed to convince the British Jury in their attempts to cover up their tracts.

Why did the Nigerian Senator hide behind the mask if the route he chose to treat his ailing daughter was legitimate? An alarmed Ukpo Nwamini found out on his theatre bed that he was programmed for a mission different from what he was told. He bolted and reported himself to the British police.

For sympathizers and advocates of clemency for the Ekweremadus, why ignore the illegitimacy that surrounded the kidney transplant deal and instead, express banal sentiments of a loving father’s care for his child? Such sentiments usually explored to shift attention from the truth when a big fish is trapped in the net? Some of these sympathizers have accused David Ukpo Nwamini of betrayal and called him a liar.

Even if it is assumed that the twenty one (21) year old Lagos street hawker lied in some of his evidences against the Ekweremadus, is a man of political status and influence as Senator Ike Ekweremadu not rich enough to finance kidney plant anywhere in the world? What prevents the Senator from establishing a standard Dialysis hospital in Nigeria? What efforts did he initiate and execute to upgrade government health care facilities in his home Country to stop medical tourism?

Those shedding tears for Senator Ekweremadu and his wife are just acting in line with the Nigerian elite complicity to sustain corruption, oppression and exploitation of ordinary and often-times, innocent Nigerians who are so treated because of poverty and lack of protection. The Elite – political class is used to getting away with its malfeasances because of assurances that the Nigerian Judicial system will always supplant Justice for the benefit of the rich.

I am amused by those who criticized the sentences passed on the Ekweremadus for alluding to the acquired landed properties of the embattled Senator and questioning its relevance to the case. Ike Ekweremadu is reported to own forty (40) houses in London from which he garners four hundred thousand. (400,000) Pounds as rents every six (6) months. He is so rich, yet preferred to exploit a donor to harvest his organ in a cheap unwholesome deal.

The 5th May 2023 judgment of Justice Johnson of the London Old Balley on Senator Ike – Ekweremadu and his wife Beatrice, should not be seen solely as a punishment well served. Those who use privileges and power to prey on their fellowmen, latching on their poverty and low social status to inflict injuries on them, should know that Karma is alive.

Most of these men of influence are known to get away with their crimes in permissive settings, but what about their children who may not be lucky as their parents? Again, Karma, the law of retribution is as constant as the Northern star.

When such children are held down by life threatening ailments or tragically cut down in their primes, it is simply taken as the prices they are forced to pay for the indiscretions of their parents.