‘Kidney conditions run in my family,’ Ekweremadu’s daughter speaks after parents’ conviction for organ harvesting

Sonia, daughter of former deputy senate president, Ike Ekweremadu, has explained why her parents sought a kidney donor from outside the family.

The Central Criminal Court in the United Kingdom on Friday sentenced Ekweremadu to nine years and eight months in prison for organ harvesting.

He was convicted by the court for spearheading the move that brought a Lagos market trader to the UK to harvest his kidney for his ailing daughter.

Ekweremadu’s wife was sentenced to four years in prison while the family’s doctor, Obinna Obeta, got 10 years jail sentence after the court found that he targeted the “young, poor and vulnerable” kidney donor.

Sonia, who spoke in an interview with BBC following her parents’ conviction, said the Ekweremadu family has a history of kidney conditions.

READ ALSO: Ekweremadu sentenced to nine years in UK prison

She said: “It’s sad. It has been really hard to really wrap my head around it. I understand the conviction; personally, I disagree with it. However, that is from a very biased perspective. As their daughter, I would obviously always back my parents. However, the law has taken its course and we have to just move forward as a family.

“I had the APO1 gene. To us, that kind of excluded the family, especially on my dad’s side because they have quite a history of kidney conditions.

“My experience from this episode is that life is just so dynamic. One day you are in your house chilling, the next day, your whole life is turned upside down.

“I don’t think it would ever be the same. I feel guilty because I feel that all this has happened because of me.”

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