Sonia, daughter of a former Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, said she feels guilty that her parents were jailed because they were trying to find a treatment for her health problem.

Recall that on March 2023, Ekweremadu, his wife Beatrice and a ‘middleman’ doctor was found guilty of organ harvesting plot in the United Kingdom. They criminally conspired to bring a 21-year-old Lagos street trader to London to exploit him for his kidney.

The UK Court on Friday sentenced Ekweremadu to a total of nine years and eight months imprisonment, while his wife, Beatrice, was sentenced to four years and six months imprisonment, and Dr Obinna Obeta, was jailed 10 years.

In an interview with BBC after the court judgement the 25-year-old Sonia said she felt guilty about the whole situation.

She said: “I don’t think it will ever be the same again. And obviously, I feel guilty because I feel like all these have happened because of me.

“It’s sad. It’s been really hard to wrap my head around it. I understand the conviction. Personally, I disagree with it; however, that’s from a very biased perspective as their daughter, and I would obviously back my parents.

“However, the law has taken its course, and we just have to now move forward as a family.”

When asked about the man who was supposed to donate his kidney to her, she said, “I didn’t have a hand in it, it was mostly my family that handled everything about my medical side.”

Asked about what she would be doing next, Sonia said, “My main focus is to try to help, specifically people with kidney conditions. This is just to show them they don’t need to be scared. I will continue to support my parents and siblings as well.”

On what she has learnt over the whole saga, Sonia said, “Life is just some dynamic. Like you’re one day in your house chilling and the next day your whole life is turned around, upside down.”