A former Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Alhaji Buhari Bala, has decried alleged Federal Government’s indifference to the ongoing trial of former Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu in the United Kingdom (UK) for alleged organ harvesting.

In a statement yesterday in Abuja, Bala expressed anger that the government and informed citizens at all levels have not shown much solidarity with the embattled senator who had served the nation in many capacities.

He said: “The fact that Senator Ekweremadu informed the British High Commission in Abuja of his intentions shows that he was not dubious but pushed by the desperate urge to save his daughter, which any reasonable and responsible parent would do.

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“If we watch and allow Senator Ekweremadu to go down like this in a foreign land, it would send very dangerous signal about the value we place on patriotism in our country, because prior to this incident the senator was outstandingly patriotic.”

The former minister also urged prominent Nigerians and groups to put more pressure on the British Government to see reason why the human angle, rather than extreme legality, should guide its actions on Ekweremadu.

Bala added: “One had also expected the National Assembly, particularly the Senate where Senator Ekweremadu had shone like a star, to bring to bear more influence on their counterparts in the United Kingdom while the Foreign Affairs Ministry should do likewise at the diplomatic level, at the earliest possible time, emphasising that Senator Ekweremadu is a serving ranking senator, holder of one of the highest national honors (CFR) and holder of a diplomatic passport and a recipient of Rotary Club’s outstanding Citizen of the World award.”

The former minister enjoined all concerned to rise up and save Ekweremadu, stressing that “his offence is not shameful but out of ignorance and the natural urge to save the life of a beloved daughter”.