A former Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, has joined the list of notable Nigerians who have either been locked up in foreign jails in the past or are still serving jail terms.

Ekweremadu was sentenced on Friday to about 10 years' imprisonment along with his wife, Beatrice, on the charge of conspiracy to traffic organs.

Nigeria's longest-serving deputy senate president is now in the company of notable Nigerians who have tested or are testing prisons on foreign soil.

He is in the company of fraudsters, politicians, and even acclaimed “freedom fighters."

Obinwanne Okeke

Okeke was on the cover of the prestigious Forbes Magazine, where he was listed as one of the 30 under 30. A special editorial that highlights people under 30 who have accomplished significant feats

Months later, he was nabbed for $11 million in fraud and sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment by the District Court of the Eastern District of Virginia, USA.

Okeke, popularly known as Invictus Obi, is still serving his prison term.

Hushpuppy

Rahman Abbas, a popular Instagram celebrity known as Hushpuppy, is serving an 11-year sentence in the US.

Hushpuppy, now convicted as a notorious fraudster, was sentenced by United States District Judge Otis Wright II, who also ordered him to pay $1,732,841 in restitution to two fraud victims.

James Ibori

The former governor of Delta State has a record of being convicted twice by the UK government. He was reportedly convicted in 1991 for stealing from a store where he was working.

Ibori, who served as governor of Delta State from 1999 to 2007, was arrested in Dubai in 2010 and extradited to the UK.

He was convicted in the UK and was later released in 2016, from where he subsequently returned to Nigeria with a heroic welcome.

Diepreye Alamieyeseigha

The former Bayelsa State governor was arrested by the Metropolitan Police in September 2005.

Alamieyeseigha, who was governor of the oil-rich state from 1999 until his impeachment in 2005, was being arraigned by the UK government, but he subsequently jumped bail.

UK authorities seized $1.5 million in cash stashed in his London home. They also seized $2.7 million in a bank account at the Royal Bank of Scotland and $15 million in London real estate.

He was subsequently jailed in Nigeria but was later granted a presidential pardon by former President Goodluck Jonathan.

Mr. Alamieyeseigha died in 2015.

Sunday Adeyemo

The self-acclaimed leader of the Yoruba Nation also served a considerable amount of time in prison in the Benin Republic.

Adeyemo, popularly known as Sunday Igboho, fled Nigeria following a raid on his house by the Nigerian secret police, the DSS.

He was reportedly arrested by the Republican police while trying to move to Germany. He was arrested at Cardinal Bernardin International Airport in Cotonou in 2021.

He was released in 2022 on the condition that he not leave Cotonou and not hold any rallies.

Kashamu Buruji

Kashamu, who served as a senator in the 8th Assembly, was reportedly arrested in the UK in 1998 after trying to enter the country with $230,000 in cash.

In 2003, a British court refused a US request to extradite Kashamu, citing uncertainty about his identity. He was then freed from prison, where he had been for five years after being found carrying $230,000 when he was arrested.

The late senator spent years fighting against an attempt to extradite him to the US.

Henry Okah

Henry, the younger brother of the leader of MEND, Charles Okah, has been in prison in South Africa since 2013.

He was handed a 24-year prison term in connection with the 2010 Independence Day bombing. The South African court convicted Okah on 13 charges of terrorism.