The British Government has declined Nigeria’s request to transfer former Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, to Nigeria to complete his prison term for organ trafficking, The Guardian UK reported on Monday.

Ekweremadu, 63, was sentenced in 2023 to nine years and eight months after a UK court found him, his wife, Beatrice, and medical doctor Obinna Obeta guilty of conspiring to exploit a young Nigerian man for his kidney. The organ was intended for the couple’s ailing daughter, Sonia, at a private hospital in London. The conviction was the first under the UK’s Modern Slavery Act for organ trafficking.

A Nigerian delegation led by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar, met with UK Ministry of Justice officials last week to request Ekweremadu’s transfer under prisoner-exchange arrangements. However, The Guardian quoted a UK Ministry of Justice source as saying the request was rejected over concerns that Nigeria could not guarantee Ekweremadu would continue serving his sentence after his return.

Although officials declined to comment on Ekweremadu’s specific case, the UK government reiterated that prisoner transfers are approved only when they serve “the interests of justice.” Another official stressed that the UK “will not tolerate modern slavery and any offender will face the full force of UK law.”

Beatrice Ekweremadu, who was sentenced to four years and six months, has already been released after serving half of her term and has returned to Nigeria.

During sentencing, Justice Jeremy Johnson condemned the plot as part of a “despicable trade,” describing organ harvesting as “a form of slavery” that treats human beings as commodities. He identified Ekweremadu as the “driving force” behind the scheme, calling the case a “substantial fall from grace.”

The victim—identified only as C—was taken to the Royal Free Hospital in February 2022 and falsely presented as Sonia’s cousin. Despite an attempt to bribe a medical secretary, the hospital rejected the transplant in March 2022, though it did not report the incident immediately. The case only came to light when the victim fled and sought help, fearing he would be taken to Nigeria for another attempt.

Obeta, who had himself received a kidney transplant in 2021 from another allegedly trafficked donor, is serving a 10-year sentence, two-thirds of which must be served in custody.