Apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, on Tuesday, appealed to the British government for leniency for convicted former Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu.
Ohanaeze Ndigbo stated it accepted the pronouncement of the trial court that approved over 10 years jail term for the ex-lawmaker in the matter of organ harvesting against him, his wife and another.
Speaking when the leadership of Ohanaeze Ndigbo received the British High Commissioner to Nigeria, His Excellency, Dr Richard Montgomery at the National Secretariat of Ohanaeze Ndigbo in Enugu, one of the leaders of the group, Archbishop Emmanuel Chukwuma, said that Ndigbo would be happy should Ekweremadu’s jail term be reduced.
He said: “There is a very important issue that we have to bring to your attention. You’re aware of the case of Nigeria’s former Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu who was convicted and is in jail in your country. He’s from this state and we all know the circumstance he got entangled in that unfortunate incident because he wanted to save his daughter.
“He is already serving a jail term. It’s unfortunate but it has happened. I testified for him during the trial and in fact, the judge mentioned my name two times while delivering his judgment.
“But we’re using the opportunity of your visit to ask for leniency for him so that he doesn’t spend the number of years in jail. We have accepted the judgment, but are saying if there’s anything that could be done to reduce the jail term. He’s from this area and if we don’t bring this thing up as Ohanaeze or from us here, concerning this important son of Igboland, it wouldn’t be nice of us. We are quite overwhelmed”.
In his speech, President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, appealed for the setting up of a British Visa office in the southeast region.
He stated that the zone accounts for over 60 percent of Nigerians traveling to the United Kingdom, stressing that it was unfair that they were subjected to travelling to Abuja and Lagos to procure their visas.