Still on Senator and Mrs Ike Ekwerenmadu – by Frank Ofili

I cannot understand why the Federal Government would hire lawyers to defend Senator and Mrs. Ike Ekwerenmadu accused of commiting crime on foreign soil.

You could of course argue that it is a gesture of citizen diplomacy, but then I ask, why was same gesture not extended to Hushpuppi and Mompha? Are they not Nigerians?

Not that one is by any stretch of the imagination endorsing the crimes of these two, but fair should be fair. What applies to Citizen A should also apply to Citizen B regardless of their offenses.

You could also argue that Senator Ekwerenmadu carries a diplomatic passport, and so ought not be arrested by UK police in the first place. I disagree. Even if that were so, was he and his wife on official assignment on behalf of the Government and people of Nigeria? Is he a diplomatic agent? Certainly not.

Let us even grant that they were on official business on behalf of Nigeria. Current practice in the sphere of diplomatic relations is that of restrictive (not absolute) immunity for sovereigns and diplomatic agents. This simply means that unless a diplomatic agent is carrying on actions of a political nature on behalf of his home government, they should not be accorded immunity from prosecution should they run foul of the law of a foreign state.

I sympathise with Senator and Mrs Ekwerenmadu over the plight of their daughter. I still believe they did not go out of their way to illegally harvest anyone’s organ. Hopefully, this will be unearthed in the course of their trial in a UK court.

Still, I believe this is a private matter. If the UK authorities found enough grounds to arrest and prosecute them as charged, I see no reason the Federal Government should hire lawyers to defend them in court. Surely, the Ekwerenmadu’s have the wherewithal to defend themselves