A Nigerian physician said in court that he fabricated information on a possible kidney donor because he was “desperate” for his own procedure to proceed.
Dr. Obinna Obeta, 51, is charged with participating in an international criminal conspiracy in a scheme to trade organs.
The Old Bailey was informed that Dr. Obeta had traveled in 2021 with a donor from Nigeria whom he had misidentified as his cousin.
He denies transgressing anti-slavery legislation.
I Didn’t Offer To Buy Kidney – Ekweremadu To UK Court
Former Nigerian politician Ike Ekweremadu, 60, is accused of bringing a man to the UK to provide a kidney for his daughter Sonia.
Ekweremadu, his wife Beatrice, 56, and daughter Sonia, 25, deny conspiring to arrange or facilitate the travel of the young man to Britain with a view to his exploitation in May 2022.
Yesterday, the court heard how Dr Obeta had successfully undergone a kidney transplant in the UK in 2021, with a donor travelling from Nigeria who was said to be his cousin.
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But asked by his defence barrister, Sally Howes KC, if the man was in fact his cousin, Dr Obeta admitted that he was not.
“No, he’s not a blood relative. I wish to apologise for that,” Dr Obeta said.
“At that point, I was really desperate to survive,” he added.
Asked if he accepted that identifying him as a cousin was a lie, Dr Obeta said: “I’m not proud of that.”
‘Others in mind’
Dr Obeta denied that he had offered any money for the donor’s kidney, or any kind of reward and told the court that he had kept in touch with the man after the operation.
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