Imagine for a second, that Senator Ike Ekweremadu was nabbed in Nigeria for alleged organ harvesting/trafficking and enslavement of a minor. Of course we wouldn’t be here and I wouldn’t even be writing this piece.
He would have bribed his way through.
The boy, David Ukpo Nwamini and his family, would have been arrested and thrown into jail for daring to insult a “Nigerian big man.” And the poor lad, who is currently enjoying some of the best London has to offer, would probably never have tasted freedom again.
By a similar token, now that Ekweremadu has been arrested in a foreign land, let the law take its course if he is found guilty. And should he end up in jail after his court appearances, so be it. There should be no diplomatic intervention from Abuja or from anywhere else for that matter.
I really do not understand the sympathy the Nigerian lawmaker is getting from some sections of the public.
There should be no tears for Ekweremadu.
Ekweremadu has served as a Nigerian senator for 19 years. He was Deputy Senate President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria from 2007 to 2019. His political party, PDP, governed Nigeria for 16 years. He had influence aplenty.
There are no records of Ekweremadu speaking strongly in support of increased budgetary allocations to Nigeria’s embarrassing, debilitating healthcare sector.
There are no records of Ekweremadu passionately making a case for the building and equipping of hospitals or healthcare facilities in Nigeria.
There are no records of Ekweremadu passionately canvassing for better remuneration for doctors or for healthcare professionals, for the period he has been in public service.
There are no records of Ekweremadu moving healthcare related motions or sponsoring healthcare related bills on the floor of parliament, and following through on those bills.
Like other members of his accursed political class who are now begging UK law enforcement and agencies to temper justice with mercy, Ekweremadu believes in travelling abroad to sort out his and his family’s healthcare problems.
Like other members of Nigeria’s accursed political class, Ekweremadu did nothing as doctors, nurses and midwives embarked on one strike action after another to protest poor working conditions and disproportionate remuneration.
Like other members of his accursed and privileged political class, Ekweremadu believes that as long as he has the money to jet out of Nigeria–taxpayers money no less–he is good. He wakes up reminding himself that Nigerian hospitals and schools are not for him and for his immediate family members.
Ekweremadu, like other members of Nigeria’s thieving political class, is a selfish bastard!!!
So, he takes a lad from a poor home with him abroad to help fix a family member’s deteriorating health. This boy from a less privileged background would have to donate his kidney to keep one of Ekweremadu’s kids alive!
So, it is not enough that Ekweremadu and his ilk have screwed up Nigeria and ran this blessed nation aground. It is not enough that their policies or lack of same have impoverished and led to the deaths of millions of our compatriots through the years. When members of their families are on the throes of death, we have to sacrifice our lives and limbs to keep them alive as well.
This life no just balance.
There are insinuations that citizen David Ukpo, whose kidney became a mismatch for the procedure, lied about his age to UK authorities and that he is in fact no minor. I wouldn’t be holding brief for him here on that score. I’ve got bigger fish to fry as you may have noticed.
However, if you’ve lived in a dysfunctional country all your life and fate hurls you into a system that works; into a saner, cleaner clime with a transportation system that makes you think you are in some utopia or nirvana, chances are that you’d throw in a fib as well to perpetuate your stay in that system.
In any case, should the UK authorities find Ekweremadu guilty of alleged modern slavery, attempted organ harvesting or trafficking of a minor, he should be made to pay.
Heaven knows I have no tears for the senator or his ilk back home. Ekweremadu and other members of the nation’s political elite have had us all by the jugular for so long, it’s difficult to restrain us from pumping our fists in the air in sheer ecstasy when one of them gets into trouble abroad.
If they had fixed their country–rather than steal their country–they wouldn’t be running abroad in the first instance. May good, ol’ Karma continue to catch up with them all.