THE Federal Government and the federal lawmakers have rallied support for the embattled former Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu and his wife, Beatrice, following their detention in the United Kingdom following the allegations of organ harvesting.
While the Federal Government, through the Nigerian High Commission to the United Kingdom, Ambassador Sarafadeen Ishola, hired lawyers to defend the couple, the Senate President Ahmad Lawan disclosed on Wednesday that a delegation of the Chamber would visit Ekweremadu and his wife in London.
The senator and his wife, who were arraigned last week after their arrest at Uxbridge Magistrates Court in London will return to court July 7, 2022, the adjournment date.
The Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs chaired by Senator Adamu Bulkachuwa, would undertake the trip.
Lawan praised the High Commissioner and his team for providing consular support for Ekweremadu, “including the engagement of lawyers to defend Ekweremadu.”
He assured Ekweremadu’s family that the Senate would work to get all needed support for Ekweremadu and his wife to overcome the present challenge.
Lawan said that “because this issue is already in court, we have limited opportunity to discuss beyond what we have done so far.
“But I want to assure the family of our colleague, Ekweremadu and Nigerians, that the Senate will continue to engage with our Ministry of Foreign Affairs as well as our High Commission in London.
“We have also mandated our committee on Foreign Affairs to engage with the British High Commission here in Nigeria, to find more details on this case, as far as the High Commission is involved.”
He urged all Federal Government institutions that can “do anything to ensure that justice prevails in this case to do so.”
Meanwhile, members of the House of Representatives have said that said they will not allow any actions that tended to humiliate Ekweremadu to succeed.
The House said that a serving senator and former deputy Senate President deserved all necessary assistance from the nation’s diplomatic channels and mandated the ministry of foreign affairs to get to work immediately.
The House subsequently invited the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, acting Comptroller General of Nigerian Immigration Service, and the Chief Executive Officer of National Identity Management Commission on Ekwerenmadu’s travails in London.
In a motion under matters of urgent public importance, the Reps requested that the federal agencies and banks should urgently respond to requests for information to facilitate the resolution of the charges against Ekweremadu and his wife.
The Speaker of the House, Femi Gbajabiamila said that, “a criminal charge does not constitute a conviction or conclusive proof of guilt. This is merely the beginning of the judicial process to substantiate the fact of the allegation and gather sufficient evidence to sustain the charges therein.
“Until that process is concluded , let us keep in mind that at the heart of this matter, there are human beings and fellow citizens whose lives have taken a turn none of us would ever wish for ourselves.”
