The Central Criminal Court in London has again denied bail to former Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu.
The court in a pre-trial hearing on Tuesday, gave its verdict denying the bail on the grounds that Ekweremadu would flee the country.
In the bail application, Ekweremadu’s lawyer had argued that the Nigerian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom and the Attorney-General of the Federal had written to the court that Ekweremadu was not a flight risk.
The lawyer also argued that a guarantee to produce him should he pose a flight risk was given and that the Nigeria High Commission in the UK had equally given the option of tagging Ekweremadu electronically to monitor his movement.
His lawyer said the lawmaker had proven to be a caring and responsible father and could not escape from London, abandoning his wife and sick daughter.
The defense told the court that they had sureties and securities of nearly half a million pounds sterling from 11 people to secure Ekweremadu’s release on bail.
But the court after the hearing denied his bail application, stressing that the bail would not make much difference even as the trial is just over a month away.
The court therefore moved the trial backward from May 2023 to January 31, 2023.
The Old Bailey had agreed that arguments will be heard on the 16th or 19th of December 2022 before the commencement of the trial in January.
Ekweremadu and his wife Beatrice were arrested on June 23 and charged with conspiracy to trafficking a person for organ harvesting in violation of the Modern Slavery Act 2015.