Senator Ike Ekweremadu, a former Deputy Senate President, has joined the list of noteworthy Nigerians who have been imprisoned or are now imprisoned in foreign countries.
On the accusation of conspiracy to smuggle organs, Ekweremadu and his wife, Beatrice, were sentenced to about ten years in jail on Friday.
The longest-serving deputy senate president in Nigeria has now joined the ranks of renowned Nigerians who have tested or are currently trying jails on foreign land.
He is in the company of scammers, politicians, and even celebrated “freedom fighters.”
Okeke Obinwanne
Okeke was featured on the cover of Forbes Magazine as one of the 30 under 30. A special editorial highlighting notable people under the age of 30.
Months later, he was arrested for $11 million fraud and sentenced to ten years in jail by the District Court of the Eastern District of Virginia, USA.
Okeke, also known as Invictus Obi, is still in prison.
Hushpuppy
Hushpuppy, a prominent Instagram celebrity, is serving an 11-year term in the United States.
Hushpuppy, now convicted as an infamous fraudster, was punished by United States District Judge Otis Wright II, who also ordered him to pay $1,732,841 in restitution to two fraud victims.
James Ibori
The former Governor of Delta State has been convicted twice by the UK government. He was reportedly convicted in 1991 of stealing from a store where he worked.
Ibori, the governor of Delta State from 1999 to 2007, was arrested in Dubai in 2010 and deported to the United Kingdom.
He was convicted in the UK and eventually released in 2016, returning to Nigeria to a hero’s welcome.
Diepreye Alamieyeseigha
The Metropolitan police detained the former Bayelsa State governor in September 2005.
Alamieyeseigha, the governor of the oil-rich state from 1999 until his impeachment in 2005, was being arraigned by the UK government when he skipped bail.
Authorities in the United Kingdom confiscated $1.5 million in cash from his London residence. They also seized $2.7 million from a Royal Bank of Scotland bank account and $15 million in London real estate.
He was subsequently imprisoned in Nigeria, but ex-President Goodluck Jonathan awarded him a presidential pardon.
Mr. Alamieyeseigha died in 2015.
Sunday Adeyemo
The self-proclaimed Yoruba Nation leader also spent time in prison in the Benin Republic.
Adeyemo, also known as Sunday Igboho, fled Nigeria after the DSS raided his home.
He was reportedly apprehended by Republican police while attempting to flee to Germany. In 2021, he was apprehended in Cotonou’s Cardinal Bernardin International Airport.
He was released in 2022 on the condition that he not leave Cotonou and not hold any demonstrations.
Kashamu Buruji
Kashamu, a senator in the 8th Assembly, was reportedly apprehended in the United Kingdom in 1998 while attempting to enter the nation with $230,000 in cash.
In 2003, a British court denied a US plea to extradite Kashamu, citing ambiguity about his identification. He was then released from prison, where he had been held for five years after being found with $230,000 when he was caught.
The late senator spent years battling an attempt to extradite him to the United States.
