By Sunmola Olowookere

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The sad tale that dragged Ike Ekweremadu’s family into disrepute and the storm is going through currently  all began because a darling daughter needed a kidney transplant. It began simply enough. They had laid  out their plans. Nothing was expected to go wrong.

However,  things went horribly wrong for them as they were accused of illegal harvest of organs and the UK government stood solidly behind a poor Nigerian orphan, bent on prosecuting the Nigerian senator.

The powerful couple are currently floundering, as they are held in a vice like grip of a judicial system that works. As they threaten and spit fire, the United Kingdom judiciary is unfazed. It has refused bail and adjourned the case till July.

In a fit of self righteousness, they have even gone ahead to sue some agencies of government to drive home their claims of innocence.

One thing never ceases to amaze one about the Nigerian elite. It is that feeling of impunity. “We are of a different class. The constitution might say we are all equal but we are more equal than others”. That is what their lofty looks seem to say. The couple probably thought they could walk over the case and make it disappear! Alas! It still persists.

Members of the House of Representatives had also weighed in and mandated the Foreign Affairs Ministry to secure the couple’s release. They showed no hint of shame or remorse that a Senator of such longstanding could be alleged of like that  a crime.

Ekweremadu was alleged to have picked a 15 year old homeless orphan living on the streets of Lagos with an offer of sending him to the UK  for a better life.

Although there are conflicting reports about his age,  the victim claimed he was a minor and that he was not aware that he would be donating his kidney.

The hospital officials he confided in had alerted the authorities about the case and the rest is history.

Another report has it that the tests performed on the boy showed his kidney was not a match for that of Ekweremadu’s daughter and the senator had begun to make arrangements to return the boy to Nigeria.

 Nevertheless,  the boy had tasted and enjoyed the good life in the UK and was leery to return to the streets of Lagos as a struggling orphan.

Whichever way it lies, it is unheard-of that a minor that has his whole life before him would be asked to donate an organ in any sane clime. As expected, it is illegal for a minor to donate  an  organ in the UK. A parent or guardian must authorise it. The boy is said to be a “homeless orphan”. Hence, getting a guardian’s authorization will be a problem. However, that does not give Ekweremadu  an opportunity to step into the breach.

Ekweremadu cannot suffice as a guardian!

He must be learning some much needed lessons now in his low moment. Likewise, all those in higher positions must learn that lesson. We are all in this together. If Nigeria fails, we all go down together. Had Nigerian system been working, would Ekweremadu have any reason to do his “deal” in the UK ?

Ike Ekweremadu is a powerful man who is spending his 20th year in the senate, with 12 years as the Deputy Senate President.

In all those years, he could have worked on Nigeria’s health sector and make it work. But currently, no sector in Nigeria  is really working. Our leaders feel less concerned about our plight because it is easy for them to jet out when they need medical attention.

Ekweremadu could have used the advantage of his long-standing at the senate to get Nigeria a world-class kidney hospital.But since he never thought he would  need kidney treatment,   it was his least worry.

As fate would have it, his own child needed kidney treatment. As usual  with our elites, especially those at the corridors of power, he shamelessly took his daughter to the UK for treatment where he was sure that she would be treated in a system that works.

Ironically, she would probably be attended to by Nigerian nurses and doctors who had fled our neglected sector and are now enscounsed in the welcoming arms of the UK government.

In juxtaposing Nigeria and the United Kingdom, can one really blame the boy for not returning home quietly. He probably saw how things work in sane climes. He saw electricity 24 hours a day, an occurrence that young kids celebrate in Nigeria with a shout of “Up NEPA!”,

He saw how clean and beautiful the hospitals were, different from the hospitals in Nigeria and absolutely for free. He saw how efficient the metropolitan police were securing the neighbourhood and not the Nigerian police starved of funds.

 The boy enjoyed rides in clean and efficient public transportation (buses, trams, light rail, underground tube, trains, boats etc) and not the okada, Keke and endless trekking in Nigeria.

The boy was probably awed by the beautiful landscape, trash free and green environment and not the filth he was used to in Nigeria. The boy saw food everywhere. He saw beautiful schools from nursery to reception, primary to secondary,  absolutely free.

He saw that his dream of university education would  be realised even if he had no money for fees and ASUU would  not truncate his dream in the UK. The boy saw unemployed people paid benefits by Government.

The boy decided he was not going back to Nigeria and sought refuge from the metropolitan police.

 In Nigeria, the case would probably not have seen the light of the day. The young boy would have been squashed to a pulp for daring to engage an “esteemed senator” in a legal battle.

The Nigerian police would have arrested the boy and the probability of what could happen to him in the police net is endless and better imagined than experienced.

.Ekweremadu is learning afresh that the UK is not Nigeria  and he cannot call the shots over there like he and ilks do in Nigeria. He is now being schooled in the art of rule of law, something he had ignored in his nearly 20 years as a law maker. Now that the principles of the rule of law are  being brought home forcibly to him, he would have under that the law is supreme and no one is above the law.

Thankfully, the young boy will now enjoy life in the UK because it is easy to prove that if he returns to Nigeria, his life might be in danger. How convenient.

If Ekweremadu had done his bit to fix Nigeria, all this drama may not have happened! Those in the corridors of power who  think they can do well when Nigeria is sick have just found out the bitter truth – no one will prosper better than Nigeria. If Nigeria fails, we fail with it!

Remember the powerful Abba Kyari, the mighty man of the Aso Rock. He died in the throes of COVID 19 because he could not jet out of the country, owing  to of the lock down in year 2020. That is a case of hen coming home to roost. Had our health institutions being working fine, he might still be alive today.

When election comes, Nigerians must realize that we have the unique opportunity to elect leaders who  understand that our fate is tied to Nigeria’s fate and that we rise or fall together!

In spite of all, We wish Ekweremadu’s child quick recovery,  hoping that now her case is made public, a donor will soon be found for her.

As the UK government is being armtwisted and is considering transferring the case to Nigeria, it is safe to say that congratulations are in order for the Ekweremadus family because it will definitely be a DOA (Dead on arrival ).