According to a lawyer named Kayode Ajulo, the coronation of King Charles III this coming Saturday is a suitable time for people pleading for the pardon of former Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu to do so.
Recall how prominent organisations and people, including the Senate, House of Representatives, ECOWAS Parliament, and former President Olusegun Obasanjo, wrote to the court begging for clemency for Ekweremadu prior to the sentencing.
However, according to Ajulo, who appeared as a guest on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Friday, the letters were written “erroneously”. He acknowledged that it might be construed as an attempt to meddle with the legal proceedings but proposed a better remedy.
“Now that Ekweremadu has been sentenced, this is the time to do that (ask for pardon). Tomorrow King Charles III will be coronated as the King of England, as the Head of State.
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“There is what is called royal prerogative for pardon, I believe anybody that wants to write a letter, anybody that wants to make a plea for Ekweremadu, this is the best time to ask the sovereignty of the United Kingdom; that is His Majesty King Charles III to pardon Ekweremadu.
“The precedent has been there since as far back as 1717, King George did the same. In 2003 and even as close as 2021, the same thing happened. Sovereign can do that and I believe that is the plea we need to do for Ekweremadu, not to be writing and interfering with the conduct of the court,” Ajulo said.
Ekweremadu received prison sentences on Friday after being found guilty of organ trafficking in March together with his wife Beatrice and doctor Obinna Obeta by the Central Criminal Court in London. Ekweremadu was given a sentence of nine years and eight months in prison, his wife Beatrice was given a term of four years and six months in jail, and Obeta was given a term of ten years in prison.
Following their involvement in helping a young Nigerian man enter the country in order to donate his kidney to their daughter Sonia, the three were convicted guilty.
