Ike Ekweremadu (born 12 May 1962) is a Nigerian politician and lawyer from

Enugu State Enugu State ( ig, Ȯra Enugu) is a state in the South-East geopolitical zone of Nigeria, bordered to the north by the states of Benue and Kogi, Ebonyi State to the east and southeast, Abia State to the south, and Anambra State to the west. ...

who has served in the

Senate of Nigeria The Senate is the upper chamber of Nigeria's bicameral legislature, the National Assembly of Nigeria. The National Assembly (popularly referred to as NASS) is the nation's highest legislature, whose power is to make laws, is summarized in chapt ...

since May 2003. He is a member of the

People's Democratic Party People's Democratic Party or ''variant thereof'', could refer to: * People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan *People's Democratic Party (Belize) *People's Democratic Party (Bhutan) * People's Democratic Party (Chile) *People's Democratic Party (Dom ...

, and was the

Deputy President of the Nigerian Senate The deputy president of the Nigerian Senate is second highest-ranking member of the Senate of Nigeria, after the President of the Senate. The current deputy president is Obarisi Ovie Omo-Agege of the All Progressives Congress The All Prog ...

for three (3) consecutive (6th, 7th and 8th) senate. On 23 June 2022, Ekweremadu was charged alongside his wife in UK Magistrate’s Court with conspiring to arrange the travel of a 21 year old into the UK in order to harvest organs.

Early life

Ike Ekweremadu was born at Amachara Mpu in Aninri Local Government Area of

, and is of

Igbo Igbo may refer to: * Igbo people, an ethnic group of Nigeria * Igbo language, their language * anything related to Igboland, a cultural region in Nigeria See also * Ibo (disambiguation) * Igbo mythology * Igbo music * Igbo art * * Igbo-Ukwu, a ...

origin. He holds both bachelor's and master's degree in law from the

University of Nigeria The University of Nigeria, commonly referred to as UNN, is a federal university located in Nsukka, Enugu State, Eastern part of Nigeria. Founded by Nnamdi Azikiwe in 1955 and formally opened on 7 October 1960, the University of Nigeria has th ...

, and was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1987. He also holds Doctor of Philosophy degree in law from the

University of Abuja The University of Abuja is a tertiary institution in the Nigerian capital, Abuja. It was established in January 1988 (under Decree No. 110 of 1992 as amended) as a dual-mode university with the mandate to run conventional and distance learning ...

, Nigeria.

Political appointments

He was appointed as the Executive Chairman of Aninri Local Government Council on the platform of the

United Nigeria Congress Party The United Nigeria Congress Party (UNCP) was a Nigerian political party. It was one of the five state-sanctioned political parties allowed by the government of General Sani Abacha to participate in state assembly elections held in December 1997, in ...

(UNCP) in 1997 and won the Best Council Chairman of the year, in 1997.

Senatorial career

On 12 April 2003, he was elected to the

Nigerian Senate The Senate is the upper chamber of Nigeria's bicameral legislature, the Nigerian National Assembly, National Assembly of Nigeria. The National Assembly (popularly referred to as NASS) is the nation's highest legislature, whose power is to make ...

. In September 2003, as Vice Chairman of the senate committee on Information, Chief Ekweremadu stated that the senate would make a serious investigation into allegations of bribery leveled by Federal Capital Territory (FCT) minister

Mallam Nasir el-Rufai Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai (born 16 February 1960) is a Nigerian politician who is the Governor of Kaduna State, in office since 2015. He was the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory from 2003 to 2007; and the director of the Bureau of Public ...

. Relations between Nasir El-Rufai and the senate continued to be hostile, and El-Rufai was eventually charged with corruption in 2008. In 2005, Ike Ekweremadu was beaten in the race for President of the Senate of Nigeria by Senator Kenechukwu Nnamani. In July 2006, as spokesperson for the Southern Senators’ Forum, Ekweremadu denied charges that they had made an agreement to return power to the North in the 2007 elections. In September 2006, President

Olusegun Obasanjo Chief Olusegun Matthew Okikiola Ogunboye Aremu Obasanjo, , ( ; yo, Olúṣẹ́gun Ọbásanjọ́ ; born 5 March 1937) is a Nigerian political and military leader who served as Nigeria's head of state from 1976 to 1979 and later as its presid ...

asked the Senate to review a report by the

Economic and Financial Crimes Commission The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is a Nigerian law enforcement agency that investigates financial crimes such as advance fee fraud (419 fraud) and money laundering. The EFCC was established in 2003, partially in response to pre ...

that laid charges of fraud against Vice-President

Atiku Abubakar Atiku is a given name and surname. It may refer to: Given name * Atiku Abubakar (born 1946), Nigerian politician and businessman, Vice President of Nigeria from 1999 to 2007 *Atikur Rahman Mallik, Bangladeshi film editor Middle name * Abubakar Ati ...

. Ike Ekweremadu promised to establish a committee of inquiry whose report would be submitted to the Senate, although he noted that impeachment would be difficult since it would require a 2/3 majority. Ekweremadu was returned in the 29 April 2007 Nigerian National Assembly election, and elected to the position of deputy senate president. He was given the job of handing out committee chairmanship positions allocated to the southeast zone, making decisions that were unpopular with leaders such as Senator

Chris Anyanwu Christiana "Chris" Anyanwu MFR (born 28 October 1951) is a Nigerian journalist, publisher, author, and politician. She was imprisoned from 1995 to 1998 for treason after reporting on a failed coup d'état against the government of Sani Abacha, ...

, who failed to get the positions they wanted. In July 2007, Ekweremadu was instrumental in defusing objections to the controversial nomination of

Ojo Maduekwe Chief Ojo Maduekwe (May 6, 1945 – June 29, 2016) was a Nigerian politician of Igbo origin, from Ohafia, Abia State. Early life and education He was educated at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka and graduate with a law degree in 1972. Po ...

to a ministerial position. When President

Umaru Yar'Adua Umaru Musa Yar'Adua (16 August 19515 May 2010) was a Nigerian politician who, was the President of Nigeria from 2007 to 2010. He was declared the winner of the Nigerian presidential election held on 21 April 2007, and was sworn in on 29 May ...

’s Principal Private Secretary
David Edevbie
was allegedly indicted in September 2009 in a British court for corruption and money laundering, Ekweremadu refused to take a position, stating that he did not know the facts. In September 2009, Ekweremadu was named co-chairman of a committee to conduct the

primary elections Primary elections, or direct primary are a voting process by which voters can indicate their preference for their party's candidate, or a candidate in general, in an upcoming general election, local election, or by-election. Depending on the c ...

for the Peoples Democratic Party’s governorship candidate for

Anambra State Anambra State is a Nigerian state, located in the southeastern region of the country. The state was created on August 27, 1991. Anambra state is bounded by Delta State to the west, Imo State to the south, Enugu State to the east and Kogi St ...

Senatorial election 2011

Ekweremadu was reelected as Senator for Enugu West in the April 2011 elections, receiving 112,806 votes. The closest runner-up was the candidate of the Peoples for Democratic Change (PDC), Jackson Ezeoffor, who got 7,522 votes.

Senatorial election 2019

On 23 February 2019, Ekweremadu was re-elected as senator representing the Enugu West senatorial district For the Fifth Consecutive time having polled 86,088 votes to defeat his closest rival, Mrs Juliet Ibekaku-Nwagwu of the

All Progressives Congress The All Progressives Congress (APC) is one of the two major contemporary political parties in Nigeria, along with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Founded on 6 February 2013 from a merger of Nigeria's three largest opposition parties, the ...

(APC) who polled 15,187 votes. On 11 June 2019, Ekweremadu lost his bid to become Deputy Senate President of the Nigerian 9th Senate. Ekweremadu contested against

Ovie Omo-Agege Obarisi Ovie Omo-Agege (born 3 August 1963) is a Nigerian lawyer and politician who is currently the Deputy President of the Nigerian Senate. He is senator representing the Delta State Central Senatorial District at the Nigerian senate. He wa ...

who scored 68 votes to emerge Winner. In the early hours of Tuesday, he returned his official cars. Ekweremadu has indicated he will retire from the Nigerian Senate by not running for office in 2023.

ECOWAS

In September 2009, he was appointed to lead the

Economic Community of West African States The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS; also known as in French and Portuguese) is a regional political and economic union of fifteen countries located in West Africa. Collectively, these countries comprise an area of , and in ...

(ECOWAS) ''ad hoc'' committee to work for the return of constitutional order in the

Niger Republic ) , official_languages = , languages_type = National languagesNdi-Igbo Germany in

Nuremberg Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ...

, Ekweremadu became the victim of a violent attack when members of the

Indigenous People of Biafra The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) is a nationalist separatist group in Nigeria that aims to restore the Republic of Biafra, a country which seceded from Nigeria prior to the Nigerian Civil War (1967-1970) and later rejoined Nigeria after i ...

IPOB stormed the venue of the event and began to question Ekweremadu about the killings of

Igbos The Igbo people ( , ; also spelled Ibo" and formerly also ''Iboe'', ''Ebo'', ''Eboe'', * * * ''Eboans'', ''Heebo''; natively ) are an ethnic group in Nigeria. They are primarily found in Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, and Imo States. A siz ...

when the

Nigerian army The Nigerian Army (NA) is the land force of the Nigerian Armed Forces. It is governed by the Nigerian Army Council (NAC). The Chief of Army Staff is the highest ranking military officer of the Nigerian Army. History Formation The Nigerian ...

staged Operation Crocodile Smile and Python Dance. They also questioned Ekweremadu about his purported role in the proscription of IPOB in Nigeria. The situation soon degenerated to the extent that Ekweremadu was physically dragged out of the venue, assaulted and pelted with eggs. He would later announce that he got away from the venue with little injuries. The leader of IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu issued a statement on the attack on Ekweremadu calling it a "polite warning" while at the same time warning other Igbo governors of a possible similar treatment. The four suspects were arrested and convicted of physical assault and sentenced to 20 days of hard labor without any option of fine.

2022 charges of UK organ-harvesting conspiracy

On 23 June 2022, Ekweremadu was charged alongside his wife in UK Magistrate’s Court with conspiring to arrange the travel of an alleged 21 year-old from Lagos into the UK in order to

harvest organs Organ procurement (also called organ harvesting) is a surgical procedure that removes organs or tissues for reuse, typically for organ transplantation. Procedures If the organ donor is human, most countries require that the donor be legally de ...

Awards and honours

* CFR, Knight of the Good Shepherd, Ikeoha Ndigbo. * Rotary Club’s Outstanding Citizen of the World 2017. * Dr. Kwame Nkurumah Africa Leadership Award (2005).

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ekweremadu, Ike 1962 births Living people Peoples Democratic Party members of the Senate (Nigeria) University of Nigeria alumni 21st-century Nigerian politicians Organ transplantation in the United Kingdom