A high-level Nigerian delegation sent by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu met with officials from the UK Ministry of Justice yesterday, November 10.

The discussions focused on the case of former Deputy Senate President Senator Ike Ekweremadu, who has been in detention in Britain since March 2023. The delegation was led by Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Maitama Tuggar, and the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Lateef Olasunkanmi Fagbemi, reflecting a renewed diplomatic push by the Tinubu administration regarding the high-profile case. After the meeting, the delegation was received at the Nigerian High Commission in London by Acting High Commissioner Mohammed Maidugu.

This intervention comes amid a history of complex legal interactions between the Nigerian and British systems involving prominent public figures. Senator Ekweremadu, along with his wife, Beatrice, and a doctor, was convicted in March 2023 of conspiring to bring a young man to the UK for the purpose of harvesting his kidney, in violation of the Modern Slavery Act. He was sentenced to nine years and eight months in prison. The case, the first conviction of its kind under the Modern Slavery Act, underscored that even powerful politicians are not immune from the law.

The current diplomatic engagement echoes previous high-profile legal matters, including the UK prosecution and sentencing of former Delta State Governor James Ibori for fraud and money laundering, and the protracted P&ID arbitration case, where a London court overturned a multi-billion-dollar award against Nigeria due to evidence of fraud and bribery.