Investigative journalist, JULIANA FRANCIS, continues with the expose of the frightful inhuman treatment of detainees in the Anti-kidnapping Unit, known as Tiger Base, under the Imo State Police Command.
She further revealed how the avarice of police personnel keeps pushing them into getting involved in civil matters, which is against the law.
We Saw Detainees With Bullet Wounds, Paid N250,00 For Bail — Reverend
When this reporter met and spoke with Reverend Victor, he appeared to still be reeling in shock. He could not understand why he was arrested for being the “good guy” in a scandalous incident. He did not just express shock, he also expressed anger and disappointment with the Tiger Base Police’s unprofessionalism. He said that he was tagged a hardened criminal because he tried to seek justice for a girl-child who was sexually molested by her grandfather. The Reverend explained that his uncle raped his granddaughter, and the girl would later cry out.
He remembered: “I am the chairman of our family, and my wife is the chair lady of the extended family. It was during a fact-finding mission that we shockingly discovered that the abuse of the granddaughter by my uncle started in Lagos State. My uncle was caught and arrested in Lagos, but he bribed his way out and quickly relocated to the village. It’s because he is an old man that the girl was sent to stay with him, and he continued with the violation. The girl, who is now 18 years old, could not take it anymore, cried out. We heard her cries, and along with the elders of our family, we called and questioned him. He got angry and picked a quarrel.
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“He said my wife and I collaborated and asked the girl to lay false allegations against him. He went to court and sued us for defamation. He said we will pay him N50 million for damages. The elders told him that the accusing finger was pointing at him, that he should state the truth.”
On October 27, 2024 around 1:50am, policemen surrounded the Reverend’s house. They knocked. And when he opened it, they were on him like fleas. He said that he was not even allowed to put on his slippers before he and his wife were bundled out. But he luckily, and quickly, alerted his relatives. The couple was dragged to Tiger Base.
Victor said sadly: “A policeman there asked why his colleagues would go to our house at that hour to arrest us, that they only arrest criminals at that hour. The way Tiger Base police personnel carry out operations is not good. It gives the Nigeria Police a bad name. They are simply heartless and don’t care about humanity. During the short time we spent there, we saw people with gunshot wounds on their legs. Some of those policemen, after breaking a suspect’s leg, would start treating him.
“Again, they are supposed to investigate a matter before arrest, but they will arrest someone without investigating anything. Even if someone writes a petition, police should investigate, so they don’t end up killing innocent people for nothing! For instance, my wife and I would have been killed if not for God. What crime did we commit? The State and Federal Governments should know that what is going on at Tiger Base is wrong!
“The government should investigate that place and it should be dismantled. Sometimes, a church will be in session, these Tiger Base policemen will storm the place, destroy the altar, and then whisk people away. I paid N250,000 for our bail.”
Tenant, Landlady Disagreement Ends Up At Tiger Base
Opara was another person dragged to Tiger Base. Not because of a criminal matter, but because he had an altercation with his landlady. The landlady is the owner of, not just his shop, but also his apartment.
He said that his shop rent expired in July and he was supposed to renew it in August, while the house rent would expire in December. He was served a quit notice on both properties in March to vacate in June. His lawyer wrote to the landlady, asking that Opara be allowed to exhaust his running rent, but rather than comply, he was sued. The matter went to court, and in that process, his landlady disconnected his electricity. He and the landlady had a standoff over the disconnection. He would later be arrested and taken to Tiger Base. He said that he was shocked witless by his IPO, identified as Esther, because of her hostility towards him.
Opara’s words: “The IPO assigned to my case is called Esther. When she came and called my name, I stepped forward and she screamed at me: ‘Thunder will fire you! You will die here! You’re a criminal! Your landlady said you should pack out, you don’t want to. Do you know how much they sell cement?’
“I pleaded with her to allow me to explain my side of the incident, but she refused to listen. Rather, she continued to tell me that I would die in prison. She drafted my statement. When my wife, her brother, and my lawyer came to start processing my bail, I was asked to pay N700,000 for bail, but after many negotiations, it was reduced to N200,000. I was arrested on the 24th and they collected my phone. I was released on the 30th. I was asked to sign an undertaking that I would vacate on or before the 30th of December while my rent was still running. The police said if I failed to vacate, they would rearrest me. I wrote the undertaking, and my lawyer was there. I pointed out to them that it was a civil case, but the police said that even if it was, I should have vacated the apartment after a quit notice was issued. They asked me if the building belonged to me and if I knew how much a plot of land was sold.”
Activist Detained For Bringing Food For Detainee
Mazi Amadi Innocent Obi is a human rights activist once detained at Tiger Base. His offence was that he brought food for a young relative of his, Chuks, who was detained there. He explained that Chuks and some youths fought over land and Chuks sustained serious injuries. Eyewitnesses told Obi that Chuks and three other youngsters were taken away and nobody knew who took them and where they were taken.
Obi said: “We started looking for them and went to hospitals, but we finally found Chuks at the Police Hospital in Owerri. He was on a drip. That night we found him, he couldn’t talk. He was covered in blood.”
The activist said that when he went the following day to visit Chuks, he was surprised to hear that he had been dragged to Tiger Base by some police personnel despite his life-threatening injuries. Obi initially did not know that it was operatives from Tiger Base who came to pick him up. He started looking for Chuks and then went to the Imo State Police Command Headquarters. He said that he had to pay N5,000 before he was told where Chuks was being held.
His words: “I had to pay the media section of the police headquarters N5,000 just for them to make a call, to know where Chuks was being held. I moved to Tiger Base.”
When he was heading out, he ensured that he went with food for Chuks and the other youngsters. Obi, reflecting on the day of the event, leading to the arrest of Chuks and others, said: “The day police came into the village, they arrested a whole lot of people, just to make sure that the money they would later request from the arrested people would be huge. In the evening, I made sure to go with enough food for the boys. After giving them the food, the police detained me. I didn’t commit any crime, just that I came to give Chuks and others food. They removed my shoe and everything and just like that I was detained for two days.
“Over 30 of us crammed into a room. We couldn’t breathe; it was a dead zone. In the night, people will be fanning themselves. The cell next to me is called Dead End. People die there every day. Many of them were hungry and I saw them eating their faeces. They ate poop (feces)!
“I was there for two days, and it was a traumatising two days. I got an infection within those two days, and I suffered it for almost three months. I had to look for ways to send messages to my colleagues to come and bail me. When I came out, I told our village people that we should mobilise to get those boys out, but our people ran away because they were scared of Tiger Base Police. Finally, my colleague, Majorie Ezihe, got every one of us out.”
Detainees Were Shot In My Presence, I Escaped Rape — Mary
Mary was arrested along the road and taken to Tiger Base police and spent over nine months in detention, while her family members were frantically looking for her. Mary would later find out that she was arrested because the police accused her of being the girlfriend of a member of the Indigenous People of Biafra.
She said: “I didn’t commit any crime, they were looking for someone and just because that person was on my phone contact list, they arrested and tortured me. After I was taken to Tiger Base Police in Owerri, I received countless slaps, beatings, and punches, of which I’m still suffering from the effect to date. I am always feeling chest and neck pains.
“The neck pains are the worst for me. I’ve been going to the hospital, but doctors cannot seem to understand the pain or find a solution to it. I have been on drugs, and I cannot sneeze well and cannot sing beyond a certain pitch. My vocal cord was affected during the torture. I escaped being raped twice by policemen at Tiger Base. I slept on the bare floor of the cell. For all IPOB cases, we were given food once a day.
“Detainees are killed after staying in detention for months and even innocent people are paraded as criminals or IPOB. Detainees killed by the police are mostly innocent of any crime. Even if someone is innocent, the person will be paraded, along with some weapons that the person knows nothing about.
“Whenever a detainee is called out by 8pm, just know that the person is gone; he is never coming back. When I was there, I heard about a pit where these policemen dump the corpses of killed detainees, but I don’t know its location. Even as I am speaking with you, these killings are still happening! It is even worse now than before. The Commander of that Tiger Base, Mr. Oladimeji, is a very heartless man. He has killed many innocent souls.
“He comes to the cells twice daily to count us, both male and female. Each time we go for counting, he takes notes of faces that had been long in detention. If he has seen someone who has been there for a long, he would tell his policemen that he doesn’t want to see the person next time he comes to count. It means they should kill the person.
“Many young Nigerians have died inside that place, killed by these policemen. They have shot detainees before my eyes. Many souls were lost! Female detainees, including myself, do their laundry, and dishes, and sweep and clean offices. Detainees are hanged and almost all detainees there are tagged as killers, criminals, terrorists, kidnappers! Those were all the trump-up charges against me.”
Businessman Arrested Twice Over Same Case, Extorted N700,000
This reporter caught up with Mr. Edu, a businessman based in Anambra State, who was arrested and taken to Tiger Base Police in Imo State due to an unsatisfactory business deal between him and his customer. It was a civil case. The incident happened in 2023. He disclosed that he was arrested twice over the same matter and in both instances, he was heavily extorted.
He explained that he sent money to his customer, who confirmed receiving the payment. The customer, however, later claimed that the complete payment earlier noticed in his account, was no longer so. The matter was taken to the market union, which launched an investigation.
Before the union was done, policemen from Imo State came to pick him up in Anambra State. He was later released and given a date for what the police termed an interview. When he came for the interview on April 23, the police who arrested him, granted him bail, but the complainant was not satisfied. Thereafter, Edu was rearrested and then detained from April to June.
He recounted: “It was on June 4th that the police said that I would be charged to court. I said it was okay. However, rather than take me to court, I was moved to Tiger Base. When we got there, the detainees were like zombies, half dead and half alive. Some were just skeletons. It was a danger zone. Although it was only two days I spent at Tiger Base, I took to praying to God to get me out of there, not to allow me to die there. I almost died.
“Every late night, police will come and take some detainees away; you will think they were being called because of documentation issues, but they will never return! The cells are tight. Mere touching of detainees there, you will contract infection. I contracted an infection there. This is 2025 and I am still treating myself for the infection I got there.”
Edu said that he would not have been released if not for someone reaching out to the Imo State Commissioner of Police, Aboki Danjuma, who screamed at his men, asking why they detained Edu for over two months over a civil matter.
He said: “The first time I was arrested, I was detained for a month, that is 30 days. The second time, I was detained for two months, that’s like 60 days. Due to the intervention of the CP, I was told to get someone to take my bail. During my brief sojourn at Tiger Base, while fearing for my life, I got to listen to detainees I met there sharing their experiences.
“Some of them were tortured using a filing machine! I even got to see it with my own eyes. There is a place where the police have an engine outside the building. If they want to torture someone, if they want you to confess to a crime you didn’t commit, they will put your hand into the filing machine.
“It would be filing your body. Removing your body. Some detainees are tied and hanged. The torture there is just appalling. If you see the detainees at Tiger Base, you will weep!
“I met a man there who had spent over a year in detention. He said that he bought a car and one day while driving, police stopped him, claiming that the car was stolen by someone and sold to this detainee. He was arrested and dumped at Tiger Base. He told me so many horrible things going on there and then asked me to pray to God. He said that it was only God that could make the police release me from that hell. Some families were packed inside, along with their children.
“If you have a family quarrel, the relative that has the financial upper hand can cause you and your children to be dragged to that place. I saw children and old folks more than 80 years old in detention there. They were packed in the passage with their families. I saw children between the ages of six and seven. For the first arrest, I paid N400,000 for bail and for the second arrest, I paid N300,000 for bail.”
I Almost Lost An Eye In Hands Of Tiger Base Police Personnel – Promise
Mr. Promise is another victim of Tiger Base police personnel. According to him, his boss had a marital squabble with his wife. The wife, in anger, went to Tiger Base and asked the police to arrest her husband. Unfortunately, on the day they came to grab her husband, he was not at home. The policemen instead bundled Promise out of the house and then subjected him to severe beating.
Promise narrated: “They beat me recklessly, almost damaging one of my eyes. I was punched from different angles. I was detained for two weeks and three days. If you’re having an issue with someone and the person took the matter to Tiger Base Police, just understand that the person meant to kill you. Tiger Base Police is not a place for anyone to go. I would rather prefer to be locked up in prison than be detained at Tiger Base Police. It is the worst place for anyone to be. The place is like hell and the policemen operate like kidnappers. Once you’re arrested, they won’t allow you to reach out to your family members or friends. Many people are suffering there, and many have been there for months.
“After my release, I had been going to the hospital because of the eye problem. The federal government should do everything possible to scrap or disband the Tiger Base Police. The way suspects are treated there is dreadful! When I was in detention, everyone they brought in to join us had injuries. I don’t know if beating and torturing people mercilessly is part of their rules there.”
Politician Kidnapped In Abuja By Tiger Base Police, Denied Lawyer, Medicare
Excel Ihekweme narrated how her husband, Dr. Fabian Ihekweme, a former Commissioner for Foreign and International Affairs in Imo State, was “kidnapped” in Abuja by operatives of Tiger Base Police. Excel explained that her husband was arrested for allegedly criticising the poor governance going on in Imo State.
The Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodima, allegedly miffed by the criticism of his former commissioner, wrote a petition against Fabian to the police in Abuja, but it was allegedly discarded for lacking merit. When the police in Abuja refused to play ball, Tiger Base policemen were called and they stormed Abuja, and arrested Fabian. In the case of Fabian, Tiger Base police were accused of illegal arrest, unlawful detention, and denying Fabian rights to Medicare and a lawyer.
Excel said: “We live in Abuja, so the governor sent a police team from Imo State to come to Abuja to arrest my husband. The Police in Abuja had earlier refused to arrest my husband, saying that his writings were within his Fundamental Human Rights. The policemen from Tiger Base came to Abuja and abducted him from our house and took him to Imo State on the 27th of November, 2024, till date (January, 2025).
“The Police refused to grant him bail and also refused to charge him in court. When he is visited by his sister, the police wouldn’t give them privacy for him to tell her what he is going through. However, the fact is that he is being held there illegally. These policemen just picked him up unannounced. He didn’t spend Christmas and New Year with us.”
Gloria Okolie Alleged Of Being IPOB Spy, Detained For Over 10 Months
The ordeal of Gloria Okolie will not be forgotten in a hurry by Nigerians and major Civil Society Organisations. Okolie was arrested on allegations of being a spy and girlfriend of IPOB. The Police alleged that her bank account was being used to receive money from donors and sponsors of IPOB. She was taken to Tiger Base Police, and spent months there, before being moved to IRT Headquarters in Abuja. The 21-year-old girl was arrested while on an errand for her parents. She and the commercial cyclist, who carried her on that day, were arrested. The police never reached out to her parents to tell them that Okolie had been arrested.
The distraught parents worried sick that something terrible had happened to Okolie, ran from pillar to post, searching for her, including going to police stations and mortuaries.
They had already given up hope of finding her when the cyclist, who was released by the police, went to tell them that Okolie was in the detention facility, sweeping, cooking, and doing the laundry for the police personnel.
Outraged human rights activists and lawyers had swung into action, working round the clock to secure her bail. All legal overtures made by lawyers and activists toward securing her release from prison were blocked by the police. Eventually, she was granted bail on March 23, 2022. There are speculations that she could have been violated by the police personnel.
The ECOWAS Court of Justice, in a judgment, held the Federal Republic of Nigeria accountable for the unlawful detention and mistreatment of Okolie. According to the applicants, Okolie was denied access to legal counsel, subjected to forced labour, and physically abused during her detention. The applicants argued that these actions breached several human rights instruments. The court also awarded N10 million in compensation and issued directives to safeguard human rights.
Note: Some detainees who spoke with the reporter requested their real names should not be used to avoid being rearrested or targeted by operatives of the Tiger Base.
. This report was supported by the Rule Of Law And Accountability Advocacy Centre as part of its interventions in the insecurity ravaging the South East and its impact on human rights, the civic space and development.
To be continued.
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