Headline

Ekweremadu: Victim Of Organ Harvesting Plot Says He’s in UK To Work

Published

3 years ago

February 20, 2023

A Nigerian street trader at the centre of an alleged organ-harvesting plot involving former Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu has told judges he thought he was going to Britain to work.

The young man was allegedly brought to the UK to donate a kidney to the sick daughter of the former Deputy Senate President in exchange for a cash reward.

According to the Irish News, the young man, giving evidence at the Old Bailey on Monday, revealed he did not even know why he was being taken to see a doctor.

He disclosed he was being “controlled” and told to lie about having a family connection with the Ekweremadus before a consultation at the Royal Free Hospital.

In the end, a doctor at the north London hospital concluded he was unsuitable as a donor for 25-year-old Sonia Ekweremadu, the Old Bailey has heard.

Ekweremadu, 60; his wife Beatrice, 56; Sonia, 25, and medical “middleman” Obinna Obeta, 50, are charged with conspiring to arrange or facilitate the travel of the young man to Britain with a view to his exploitation.

The young man, aged 21 as of the time of the incident, said he thought he was coming to Britain to work.

He also told the court how he was born and bred in a village in Nigeria, the oldest of nine children to his carpenter father and mother.

He went to a village school until the age of 15 when he left because his parents needed money, the court heard.

His uncle took him to live with him in Lagos and gave him work selling phone accessories, he said.

After four years, he started his own business selling phone accessories from a wheelbarrow in the market earning N3,000 or N4,000 a day.

Prosecutor Hugh Davies KC asked how he came to fly to London from Lagos.

The witness, who gave evidence by video link with the assistance of an interpreter, said, “Obinna (Obeta) is the man who brought me here to this country.

“He asked me what am I doing and I told him I’m doing business selling phone accessory in Lagos and he start talking about coming to London.

“He going to take me to London, stay at his house, and I will work.”

The court heard how he travelled to the Nigerian capital Abuja for tests and was taken to have passport pictures taken.

He told judges that the first time he saw his passport was when he went for a visa interview and he did not see it again until the day he travelled to the UK.

Mr Davies asked, “What did you think you were going to do when you came to London?”

He replied, “To work, any type of work that I would get paid.”

He said he thought Dr Obeta was helping him because he was “from God.”

After travelling to the UK, the man was pictured sharing a meal with Sonia Ekweremadu and smiling into the camera.

He disclosed that during the course of the me, those present “only discuss for themselves” and did not ask him any questions

Later that week, the victim disclosed that he was taken by Dr Obeta for his consultation at the Royal Free Hospital.

He told judges he thought it was for a test before he could start work.

Before going inside, they allegedly met Sonia Ekweremadu, a tall Nigerian man who had escorted him on the plane and another woman.

He told judges, “They used to discuss by themselves. Obinna would just tell me where to stay. Like they were controlling me.

“They said I am going to see the doctor. The doctor is going to ask me question and they will give me the answer.”

He was allegedly told to lie that he had been to a “higher institution” school and that he and Sonia Ekweremadu were cousins.

Headline

UK Nursery Worker Jailed For Abusing 21 Babies

Published

6 hours ago

September 26, 2025

Editor

A judge on Friday jailed a nursery worker for eight years for a string of “gratuitous” and “sadistic” attacks on babies.

In one incident, Londoner Roksana Lecka, 22, kicked a little boy in the face several times.

Lecka, who blamed cannabis for her crimes, admitted seven counts of cruelty to a person under the age of 16 and was convicted after a trial of another 14 counts.

Sentencing her for attacks on 21 babies, Judge Sarah Plaschkes said she had committed “multiple acts of gratuitous violence” at two London nurseries where she worked.

“You pinched, slapped, punched, smacked and kicked them. You pulled their ears, hair and their toes. You toppled children headfirst into cots,” she said.

“Often the child would be quietly and happily minding its own business before you deliberately inflicted pain… Your criminal conduct can properly be characterised as sadistic,” she added.

Lecka’s cruelty was revealed in June 2024 after she was seen pinching a number of children.
Police were called in and found multiple incidents recorded on the nursery CCTV.

Victim impact statements submitted to London’s Kingston Crown Court from parents of Lecka’s victims told how they were left heartbroken and guilt-stricken by the attacks.

“These children were so innocent and vulnerable,” one mother told the court.

“They couldn’t speak, they couldn’t defend themselves and they couldn’t tell us as parents that something had happened to them,” she added.

“They were totally helpless and Roksana preyed upon them.”

The hearing was told that she had apologised to the parents in a letter to the court in which she said cannabis had turned her into a different person.

She had been addicted to the drug around the time of the offences, but had not told the nursery.
She was found not guilty of three further counts of child cruelty.

Headline

Italy Fines Six Oil Firms $1bn Fine For Restricting Competition

Published

9 hours ago

September 26, 2025

Editor

Italy’s antitrust regulator said Friday it has slapped Italian energy giant Eni and five other companies with fines totalling more than 936 million euros ($1.1 billion) for “restricting competition” in the sale of fuel.

The authority said in a statement that Eni, Esso, Ip, Q8, Saras and Tamoil “coordinated to set the value of the bio component factored into fuel prices”, which tripled between 2019 and 2023.

A probe following a whistleblower’s complaint revealed that “the companies implemented parallel price increases — largely coinciding — which were driven by direct or indirect information exchanges among them”, the authority said.

“The cartel began on 1 January 2020 and continued until 30 June 2023,” it added.

AFP

Headline

Trump Signs Order For TikTok’s Sale, Valued At $14bn

Published

11 hours ago

September 26, 2025

Editor

United States President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order declaring that his plan is to sell TikTok’s US operations to American and global investors.

As reported by Reuters on Friday, the order requires companies bidding for TikTok to meet the national-security requirements of the 2024 law that otherwise would ban the app unless its Chinese owners divest.

Speaking to reporters at an Oval Office briefing on Thursday, Vice President James Vance said the newly created US entity would be “valued around $14 billion.

“We actually think this is a good deal for investors, but they will make a determination about what they want to invest and what they think is the proper value,” he said.

The White House on Thursday pushed back the law’s enforcement date to January 20 to allow time for the transaction, investor commitments, and negotiations with Chinese authorities.

The publication of the executive order shows Trump is making progress on the sale of TikTok’s US assets.

However, details remain to be worked out, including how the U.S. company would handle TikTok’s most valuable asset: its recommendation algorithm.

“There was some resistance on the Chinese side, but the fundamental thing that we wanted to accomplish is that we wanted to keep TikTok operating, but we also wanted to make sure that we protected Americans’ data privacy as required by law,” Vance said.

According to Reuters, Trump’s order says the algorithm will be retrained and monitored by the U.S. company’s security partners, and operation of the algorithm will be under the control of the new joint venture.

Trump said Chinese President Xi Jinping had indicated approval of the plans. “I spoke with President Xi,” Trump said. “We had a good talk, I told him what we were doing, and he said go ahead with it.”

Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. TikTok did not immediately comment on Trump’s action.

Trump has credited TikTok, which has 170 million U.S. users, with helping him win reelection last year. Trump has 15 million followers on his personal TikTok account. The White House also launched an official TikTok account last month.

“This is going to be American-operated all the way,” Trump said.

He said that Michael Dell, the founder, chairman and CEO of Dell Technologies; Rupert Murdoch, the chairman emeritus of Fox News owner Fox Corp, and newspaper publisher News Corp, and “probably four or five absolutely world-class investors” would be part of the deal.