NEWS
The Ekweremadus Health, Human Trafficking, Organ Harvesting Travails
By Kenneth Eze
The world was jolted last Thursday when news broke out that Nigeria’s former Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu and his wife Beatrice Nwanneka Ekweremadu’s alleged involvement in human trafficking and organ harvesting in the United Kingdom (UK).
Coming on the heels of overwhelming hardship being experienced by the masses in Nigeria, it is relatable that the Nigerian public chose to celebrate the matter, instead of empathising with a spouse looking to save the life of a child a daughter battling with a terminal illness.
Sadly, the issue of ill-governance and consequently hardship it has brought upon the populace seem to have eroded humanity to the point where people seem to be praying for the rich to also cry.
I wonder if this should be. And why?
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While we are entitled to the legitimate right to wrestle our collective destiny at the national level from unscrupulous politicians, we owe ourselves the duty to do so rationally.
It can be said that the public’s spontaneous reaction can be seen as a lesson for politicians and public servants, but the more salient issues are: Without controversy, every responsible parent would do everything legal within his/her to save his/her child who is similarly threatened like Sonia Ekweremadu. The next is that no one has a moral right to seek to profit from the misfortune of another, particularly illness. The third is that the parties to this (the Ekweremadus and the proposed donor, Ukpo Nwamini David) are adults and can enter into a binding contract.
My candid take is that the public ought to weigh the issues properly before jumping into the conversation. Suffice it to state that at moment there’s scanty information, as there’s little or no access to the parties to the matter. This has made real informed commentary tough naught at this time.
However, a sensitive aspect of the discourse is the proposed donor’s age. While the Metropolitan Police said the boy is 15, his traveling documents indicate that he is 21. What nobody can take away is that his picture and social media footprints tell a story of someone well above the 15 being brandied.
Another aspect that no one can mask is that his traveling was processed formally on medical grounds, for which he had privileged information. The coming days will reveal why this dangerous twist came into the story.
Another aspect that lends itself to plausibility is the fact that any young unemployed person would almost stop at nothing to secure an exit from the open prison, called Nigeria. Probably, this is the card this young man is playing. It would be sickening if this should be the case, that an individual would go to the extent of throwing another of high public standing under the bus, just to secure papers to stay in a foreign country.
This ought to be of concern to members of the public.
While each person is at liberty to seek to live or work wherever he or she wishes, that should not be at the detriment of others, particularly, someone with a terminal illness.
It’s painful enough to have a child with a terminal disease. And for another to seek to profit from it, endangering the sick child and her parents in the process. That’s hard to imagine!
Where’s humanity and compassion? And for others to condemn a genuine effort of parents to save the life of their daughter. I think we all need to think again.
Unfortunately for the Ekweremadus, the extant laws in the UK favor the minor. It is not clear if there’s a legal provision that can unravel this young man’s real age. Because until that is done, though, evidence of Ukpo submitting himself to the procurement of travelling documents, and indeed, undertaking the journey without alerting the law, in addition to willingly being ‘spoilt’ by the Ekweremadus, indicate that he consented, they amount to nothing.
Extant laws in the UK are in place to protect the weak or disadvantaged, which weighs against the Ekweremadus, albeit momentarily.
While these are ongoing, it is time to become sober and ponder on; ‘To what extend should parents go to try to save the life of a child diagnosed with a terminal illness?’
I am actually worried at the sudden turn of events because this is Nigeria, a country where people of all tribes and religions donate to save the lives of others just at the prompting of trusted media channels or other individuals.
What could have gone wrong? This is beyond religious or political sentiments.
Ukpo might be making all manner of claims before the UK authorities, but it must be borne in mind that the request upon which his UK visa was granted was founded on medical. Now, that he is claiming ignorance of what took him to the UK, can he adduce evidence of his medical condition and why the onus fell on the Ekweremadus to take him to the UK for treatment?
Unless Ukpo comes clean on this, his claims might appeal to the UK authorities and their legal system, but however this ends, he would have to live with the burden of undoing a benefactor all the days of his life.
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has demanded justice and transparency over the deaths of 37 suspected illegal miners while in the custody of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in Niger State.
Atiku, in a statement posted on X on Friday, said he was “deeply saddened and profoundly disturbed” by the deaths, stressing that those who died were human beings whose families expected the state to protect their lives and dignity while in custody.
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He said no Nigerian should enter government custody and lose the fundamental right to life.
Atiku commended the Federal Government for suspending the officers under whose watch the tragedy occurred and ordering a full investigation, describing the action as an important first step.
However, the former vice president called for the investigation to be independent, thorough and transparent, with its findings made public.
He further demanded that anyone found responsible through action, abuse or negligence be held fully accountable.
According to Atiku, the families of the deceased deserve more than condolences, saying they deserve the truth and justice.
He also called for assurances that being held in government custody would never become a “death sentence,” while expressing sympathy with the bereaved families and praying for strength and comfort for them.
“My heart goes out to the bereaved families. I pray that God grants them strength and comfort in this painful hour, and that the truth is established without delay,” Atiku said.
International News
Nigeria Joins Global INTERPOL Operation as AI Identifies 126 Foreign Terrorist Fighters
Nigeria has joined 10 other countries in a global counter-terrorism operation coordinated by the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL), in which artificial intelligence was used to help identify 126 Foreign Terrorist Fighters.
Known as Operation Shams II, the five-day operation was conducted from June 1 to 5, 2026, in Tunis, Tunisia, and brought together 28 specialised officers and experts from 11 countries.
According to INTERPOL, law enforcement officers extracted 108,076 facial images from visual content published by jihadist groups during the operation.
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Programmed AI agents and advanced AI-generated scripts were then used to automate parts of the data collection and investigative process, including deduplicating and quality-checking the images.
The technology helped narrow the dataset to 6,362 unique, high-quality facial images, which were subsequently processed through INTERPOL’s Facial Recognition System.
INTERPOL said the AI-generated results were reviewed and verified by trained officers and analysts in accordance with its Rules on the Processing of Data.
“To date, 126 Foreign Terrorist Fighters have been identified from the images processed during Operation Shams II,” the organisation said.
INTERPOL explained that the matches would help enrich existing intelligence on the suspects, including information on their potential locations and social networks.
The intelligence is now being integrated into INTERPOL’s global databases as part of efforts to detect, track and disrupt terrorist movements worldwide.
The operation also received a large intelligence dataset related to terrorism suspects from officers at INTERPOL’s National Central Bureau in Baghdad, Iraq.
INTERPOL said hundreds more images were extracted from the dataset for processing.
Investigative leads generated during the operation are already being used to support judicial procedures in participating countries, including a case involving two currently detained suspected Foreign Terrorist Fighters.
INTERPOL said thousands of additional images are still awaiting processing, meaning further comparisons could produce additional investigative leads.
Beyond facial recognition, Operation Shams II also deployed cryptocurrency tools to trace illicit funding.
According to INTERPOL, the effort resulted in three urgent requests to a Virtual Asset Service Provider for customer data aimed at disrupting terrorist financing flows.
Participating countries also engaged representatives of the online gaming industry on the issue of youth radicalisation in online environments, with discussions focused on strengthening cooperation and information sharing.
INTERPOL Director of Counter-Terrorism, María Carmen Muñoz González, said the operation demonstrated the value of combining international law-enforcement cooperation with responsible AI-assisted analytical capabilities.
The participating countries were Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Iraq, Kenya, Malaysia, Nigeria, the Philippines, Qatar, Tajikistan, Tunisia and Uzbekistan.
INTERPOL said Operation Shams II was carried out under the CT TECH+ Project, funded by the European Union’s Foreign Policy Instruments and supported by the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism.
French President Emmanuel Macron hosted President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to a private dinner at the Élysée Palace in Paris on Thursday night, as Nigeria and France seek to deepen their longstanding bilateral relationship.
The meeting was disclosed on Friday by Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy.
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According to Onanuga, the private dinner reflected the “enduring relationship” between Nigeria and France and the shared commitment of both countries to strengthening bilateral cooperation.
The engagement took place as President Tinubu continues his stay in France as part of his three-week working vacation in Europe.
Recall that Tinubu arrived in Paris on September 13, 2026, for the second leg of his European vacation after spending the earlier part of his leave in London.
The meeting comes amid continued high-level diplomatic engagements involving France and other international partners in Paris.
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