I See This As A Dent On Our Country’s Image And Its Sovereignty- Adamu Garba Reacts To Ekweremadu, Wife’s Imprisonment 

Former Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu and his wife have been sentenced to prison by the Central Criminal Court, Old Bailey, United Kingdom.

The judgement comes less than two months after the court found the couple guilty of organ trafficking. They were accused of luring a young trader from Nigeria to London with the purpose of harvesting his kidney and transplanting it to their daughter, Sonia who is battling with kidney problem in the hospital.

In the judgement delivered by the UK court on Friday, the former deputy senate president was slammed with 9 years imprisonment while his wife, Beatrice was sentenced to 6 years jail term. The doctor, Obinna who was assisting the family to get the process done was given 10 years.

Reacting to the development, the former spokesman of Tinubu’s Presidential Campaign Council, Adamu Garba said: “I see this as a dent on our country’s image.”

The APC chieftain made this known on his verified twitter handle immediately after the news of the conviction went viral on social media.

In a lengthy write up on his handle, Adamu Garba wrote:

“I really don’t like this. I see it as a dent upon the image of our country and its sovereignty. A whole former deputy senate president to serve a jail term in a foreign land?! What kind of country are we?

‘I saw some pleas from different people for his release, most notably from former President Obasanjo and the Speaker of House of Representatives, but this isn’t enough.

“If Nigeria is serious on this issue,we should immediately summon a UK ambassador to Nigeria, express our displeasure with the situation, minding not the attitude of Senator Ekweremadu but on the institution he represents, then, perhaps, afterwards, negotiate within our diplomatic basket, for what we can give them in other to get him back to Nigeria.

“I am sure there are a whole lot of diplomatic give and take to tidy up and bring Senator Ekweremadu and his wife to serve their jail them in Nigeria. Why do we have a mutual legal assistance treaty with the UK? What are the terms? How can we improve on it? I don’t like the idea that a former deputy senate president is serving a jail term in the UK, honestly I don’t!

“Allowing such to happen started during Obasanjo’s administration, when they mistakenly, in the name of fighting corruption, allowed late Governor Alamesigha and former Governor Ibori to serve jail terms in a foreign land. That was a bad precedent and we should be mindful of such unwholesome, unpatriotic mistakes.

“Nigeria is a sovereign state with its laws, principles and justice system, equal enough to administer justice and apply sanctions on breach of law.

“We must stand up for our institutions and protect their sovereignty in the name of our national interests.”