Ike Ekweremadu Biography
Ike Ekweremadu, is a senator and Deputy Senate President of Nigeria. He was born on May 12, 1962 at Amachara Mpu Village in Aninri Local Government Area of Enugu State, into the royal family of His Royal Highness,Late Igwe Mathias Ekweremadu, the Okwaa Anekeoji 1 of Mpu, Aninri Local Government Area of Enugu State.
Ike Ekweremadu Age
Ike Ekweremadu is 60 years old.
Ike Ekweremadu Early Life
After his primary school education, Ekweremadu proceeded to at St. Dominic’s Secondary School, Ugiri, Imo State and then transfered to Boys Secondary School, Umueze Awkunanaw, where he obtained a Grade 1 in his West African School Certificate.
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He got admission to study Law at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka(UNN) and graduated in 1986. He then completed Law School and was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1987. He thereafter went further to obtain his Masters in Law from the same University in 1999 and then completed his Doctorate programme at the University of Abuja in 2014.
Ike Ekweremadu Career
Ike Ekweremadu began his political career from the grassroots. He started serving the people by holding the position of Chairman of Mpu Town Union, Enugu State.
He was elected the pioneer Chairman of Aninri Local Government Council when the Local Government was created in 1997. His unprecedented performance won him the Best Council Chairman of the year, in 1997.
Ekweremadu was appointed the Chief of Staff, Enugu State Government House and subsequently the Secretary to the Government of Enugu State between 1999 to 2003.
In 2003, Ike Ekweremadu for the first time contested in the Senatorial elections and won. He was elected a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to represent Enugu West Senatorial District on the platform of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
He was subsequently re-elected in 2007 and 2011 senatorial elections respectively.
While in the Senate, he was elected the Deputy President of the Senate in 2007. As the deputy President, He was given the job of handing out committee chairmanship positions allocated to the southeast zone, making decisions that were unpopular with some senators. In July 2007, Ike Ekweremadu was instrumental in defusing objections to the controversial nomination of Ojo Maduekwe to a Ministerial position.
In September 2009, Ike Ekweremadu was made a co-chairman of a committee to conduct the primary elections for the Peoples Democratic Party’s governorship candidate for Anambra State. In September 2009, he was appointed to lead ECOWAS- Economic Community of West African States. And was in an ad hoc committee whose duty was to work for the return of constitutional order in the Niger Republic. He was elected First Deputy Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament and emerged the Speaker of the regional parliament in August 2011. Again in 2011,he retained his position as Deputy President of the Senate.
In the 2015 senatorial elections he again contested and was re-elected as a senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to represent Enugu West Senatorial District. It is important to state here that he was again adopted as the Deputy President of the senate.
Ike Ekweremadu has several motions and bills to his credit. In addition, he was the Chairman of the Senate Ad-hoc Committee on the 1999 Constitution Review. The free and fair elections experienced in 2011 derives its credence of the Electoral Reform which was duly facilitated by the Constitution Review Committees of the National Assembly.
Attack in Nuremberg, Germany
On 17 August 2019, while attending the Second Annual Cultural Festival and Convention organized by Ndi-Igbo Germany in Nuremberg, Ekweremadu became the victim of a violent attack when members of the Indigenous People of Biafra IPOB stormed the venue of the event and began to question Ekweremadu about the killings of Igbos when the Nigerian army staged Operation Crocodile Smile and Python Dance.Â
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 UK organ-harvesting Conviction
On 23 June 2022, Ekweremadu was charged alongside his wife, his daughter and Dr Obinna Obeta in UK Magistrate’s Court with conspiring to arrange the travel of a 21 year-old from Lagos into the UK in order to harvest organs.
On 23 March 2023 Ekweremadu, his wife and Dr Obinna Obeta were convicted of conspiring to exploit the man for his kidney. Prosecutors told the Old Bailey trial that the victim was brought to the UK in 2022 to provide a kidney in an £80,000 private transplant at the Royal Free Hospital, London.
The prosecution has confirmed the maximum sentence in the organ harvesting case is one of life. The organ was to be removed and given to the couple’s daughter – she was cleared of the same charge.
Ike Ekweremadu 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).
