Speaking in the docu-series ‘Daniel vs Ekweremadu’, Channels TV’s UK correspondent, Juliana Olayinka has attributed the refusal of the London Metropolitan Police to speak to the producers to institutional racism.

The documentary is written and directed by award winning filmmaker and TV host, Chude Jideonwo.

“It is not a controversial statement for me to say that the MET Police is institutionally racist. That is not controversial. “So that they will not speak to you, Chude, a Black African journalist? Of course.”

She proceeded to detail instances of institutional racism in the public record with regard to the police: “The exact same thing that happened when Steven Lawrence was killed many years ago is the same thing now. The police is institutionally racist.”

“When the police does well they do well,” she said. “But this year alone, we have seen the two big enquiries showing how terrible the police are, the Sodiq case, and the Leveson enquiry.”

The producers of the documentary had sought to confirm the status of the case at present, as well as well-being of the victim-survivor, Daniel who has his identity changed in a British witness protection programme. However despite repeated contact with investigators in the case and with several police spokespersons, the police declined to participate in the documentary and confirm any details about Daniel despite the request for basic detail made through the filmmakers’s by his family.

Daniel’s family who spoke exclusively to the producers confirm they have not heard from him since the police took him in in 2022, and say they do not know if he is dead or life.

“He did not tell me he was leaving,” his mother said. “He did not tell me of his intention to leave the country.”

His father added: “It is in three years now since I last saw Daniel”

“No one but the police now if Daniel – whose identity has been changed according to the authorities – is dead or alive, well or not,” the director, Jideonwo said. “In the midst of the United Kingdom’s raucous immigration debate, only the police knows the status of this vulnerable Nigerian immigrant.”

Part 2 of the two-part docu-series was released on Friday, 30 August.

‘Daniel’ is the name given by the documentary filmmakers to the victim-survivor of the first conviction under the UK’s Modern Slavery Law – under which Ekweremadu became the first to be sentenced to jail alongside his wife, Beatrice and a doctor-friend, Obinna Obeta. It follows a directive from the judge of the case for the real name to remain undisclosed.

‘Daniel vs Ekweremadu’ tells the story of Senator Ekweremadu’s fall from deputy senate president to British jailbird upon his conviction for organ harvesting.

Shot in Nigeria and the United Kingdom, the series includes exclusive access to British prosecutors, police, the family of the survivor-victim amongst others in this first-of-its-kind thriller-style documentary from a West African independent studio.

The two-part series is available exclusively on the streaming platform withChude.com. It is produced by the factual film and series studio, Chude Jideonwo Presents.

Link to the official trailer: https://www.instagram.com/p/C-jxonRt3TE/