After the #EndSARS protest against police brutality in 2020, Nigerians believed such human rights violations perpetrated by some police personnel had been curtailed. However, shocking stories of human rights abuses and police impunities are emanating from the Anti-kidnapping Unit of the Imo State Police Command, which operates from the Tiger Base in Owerri, the Imo State capital. The incidents sound unbelievable. JULIANA FRANCIS, who went to different states in the South East region, chasing after petrified victims of the police at Tiger Base, tells their horrific stories.
A cloud of fear hangs over the people of Imo State in the South East region of Nigeria. This fear has enveloped their minds and is most pronounced among people, suspects, who had been guests at the Anti-Kidnapping Unit of the Imo State Police Command, popularly known as Tiger Base. The suspects, who survived Tiger Base, while narrating in chilling details their experiences, all said that it was akin to walking through the valley of the shadow of death. A staggering number of former detainees refused to listen, let alone share their experiences due to fear of being rearrested or targeted.
The core mandate of the Anti-kidnapping Unit in Imo State Police Command is to investigate crimes that have to do with kidnapping, but the personnel currently are not playing by the rules guiding the Unit. Investigation showed that the police, who are supposed to be protectors, have become persecutors.
Many Detainees Collapse, Die In Detention — Chinonso
Beautiful Chinonso is one of the courageous people who haltingly shared her story. It was because of her beauty that the intrepid human rights lawyer, Majorie Ezihe, who got her out of Tiger Base Police after three months in detention, fretted that the girl might have been sexually violated. Ezihe is planning to send her for therapy. Chinonso is a quiet girl, who hurriedly shared her ordeal with Tiger Base policemen without going into many details.
Chinonso, like other former detainees, said that sharing their experiences was like dragging them back into the traumatic nightmare they were struggling to forget. The 25-year-old lady was arrested after she lost her phone in 2024. The phone was stolen from where it was being charged. She was already planning to buy a new one when policemen from Tiger Base swooped on her.
She recounted: “I remembered telling my brother that I would have to block the SIM, but I abandoned the idea. I was in the compound when the police came to arrest me. They asked me why I didn’t report to the police that my phone was stolen. They said my stolen phone and SIM had to do with a murder case. I was detained for three months. My brother repeatedly tried to bail me, but the police told him that they wouldn’t release me until I confessed. I didn’t know what they wanted me to confess to. I was locked up for three months in a room without ventilation. The heat was too much and as a result, most of us in detention had rashes all over our bodies.”
Chinonso said that for the three months she was locked up, she was not allowed to write a statement. A suspect writing a statement is supposed to be a standard initial procedure after arrest. Her mother, a distraught widow, wrote a petition to a human rights organisation, which stepped into the case. After that, the case positively turned around for Chinonso. She would later write her statement, was charged to court, and then granted bail.
However, things that she witnessed at Tiger Base still haunted her. She recollected: “There were cells for men and women, but these cells are so small. We sat on a bare floor and the heat was unbearable. There were women I met in the cell and even though I spent three months there, I still left them there. I was lucky, I was not beaten. But a certain woman was beaten mercilessly. She was arrested because the police couldn’t find her son. “She and other women were beaten with planks, and at some point, some of them started accepting the allegations heaped on them.
“My Investigating Police Officer is Chidi Igwe. “While I was in detention, there was a time some sex workers were arrested at hotels. Sometimes these prostitutes will be up to 40 in a cell. These ladies would start fainting because the cell is cramped.
“Many people died in those detention facilities; some people had become so weak that they couldn’t even walk. Every day, police will carry out a male corpse. These policemen do not pity anyone, and I do not know where they take the corpses.”
Several actions and inactions of the police personnel at Tiger Base contravene the extant law of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and international laws. According to investigations by this reporter, many victims/suspects, who went through Tiger Base were subjected to torture, extrajudicial killings, being held incommunicado, and heavily extorted. They were victims of illegal arrest and detention. Many suspects were also said to have died of starvation and others were arrested in lieu, among other violations.
The only personae in this ongoing theatre of horror at Tiger Base are the personnel, who continued to laugh all the way to the bank. People who pass through Tiger Base are threatened with rearrest if they dare to share their experiences with the media. And some are even made to write letters of undertaking to that effect. Others are made to speak in videos incriminating themselves.
My Arrested Nephew Was Brought Out Dead – Reverend Onyekwere
Reverend Onyekwere Elemuwa is among the hundreds of Nigerians, if not thousands, seeking answers to know what happened to their loved ones when they were taken into custody by operatives at the Tiger Base. Onyekwere’s 34-year-old nephew, Ekenedilichukwu Francis Elemuwa, was hale and healthy when he was arrested, but he would later be brought out in a body bag. Ekene’s family members are yet to know what has become of his corpse. Police, said his relative, refused to release it.
Indeed, Ekene, who was into Estate Management, had plans to marry his awaiting fiancée and had concluded plans to travel out of Nigeria before his untimely death. He was said to have been arrested alongside his friend, simply identified as Ikemba.
Reverend Onyekwere said: “On 28th of August, 2023, at about 8pm, Ekene went out with his friend, Ikemba. He wanted to collect his phone, which he gave to someone to charge for him. In the process, policemen in their vehicle blocked and took both men away. Both young men shouted, asking to know their offence, but the police did not respond. They were taken to Tiger Base. The following day, Ekene told them to contact his people, but the police refused. They also did not contact Ikemba’s people.”
Onyekwere is not happy that the police have not given them answers to many questions, one of which is what or who killed Ekene and what was the charge levelled against him by the police. He said: “This is a boy who had never experienced police arrest or detention before. He was a good boy. He was arrested either on the 8th or 9th of August, he was there till August 30th and 2nd of September. He died on the 4th. Ekene’s brother was further told by other detainees that when Ekene suddenly slumped, they started shouting that someone had slumped, it was then that the police came.
“The Police said they were taking him to the hospital when he died, but his cellmates insisted that it was his corpse that the police carried out of the cell. The question now is how did we know about this issue? The police seized his phone and did not allow him to contact his family. They did not arraign him in court and the worst part is that he did not have a case file. We still do not know his offence, or why he was arrested and detained.”
Onyekwere said that they would not have known of Ekene’s arrest, detention, and death, if not for a former suspect, who contacted Ekene’s elder brother after he regained his freedom. Meanwhile, Ekene’s family members had been frantically searching for him, calling his phone line, which was permanently switched off. He further said: “Nobody knew Ekene was arrested and then died in police custody. When the family members finally got information that Ekene was in Tiger Base custody, they dashed there, but the bold-faced policemen denied knowing anyone with that name and description.
“It was when someone mentioned Ikemba, Ekene’s friend, who is still alive and in detention there, that the police accepted that Ekene was brought there. They referred his brothers to one Inspector Moses, who, for no reason, started threatening them, and told them not to disturb him. This Inspector Moses is Ekene’s IPO. He was asked about the case file and the offence that the boy committed, but Inspector Moses did not give any answer. He did not give us a clue as to where Ekene’s corpse is.”
Onyekwere said that they had to get a lawyer involved, who petitioned the Inspector General of Police, IGP Kayode Egbetokun. The IGP then instructed the Imo State Commissioner of Police to find out what happened to Ekene.
Onyekwere recounted: “It was at that point that Inspector Moses told my brothers to meet one SP Oladimeji, who is in charge of the Tiger Base Police. Oladimeji explained that Ekene was truly arrested, along with another boy. He said that Ekene became sick in detention, and they took him to the hospital, it was so serious and then he died in the hospital. The question I asked was: Did he die inside the police cell, or did he die inside the police vehicle, or did he die in the hospital while doctors were treating him? The police did not give me answers to these three questions.”
Police Held Rifle, Machete To My Head, Ordered Me To Write False Statement – Citizen Offor
Another shocking incident was what happened to a citizen, who simply gave his name as Offor, and his electrician. The Investigating Police Officer in charge of Offor’s case, identified as Promise, would later say that Offor and the electrician were arrested because they drove close to the Imo State Governor’s convoy. The police claimed that the Special Adviser to the Governor, suspecting that they might be kidnappers, ordered for their arrest. They were arrested and marched to the Anti-Kidnapping Unit at Tiger Base.
Offor was released following the intervention of a human rights activist, but he had already been through hell and back. Family members were angry that after 72 hours of detaining Offor, he was not investigated and was not released. Before he was granted bail, the IPO demanded N500,000 for bail, but after haggling, N40,000 was paid.
Offor, recounting his ordeal in Tiger Base, said that his education made him know that his fundamental rights were infringed upon. He explained that on November 14, 2022, he invited an electrician to come over and fix his residential electrical issues. The electrician demanded payment in cash because he needed it for food and transportation. Offor had no cash.
Offor said: “I had no other option than to drive out at about 10:35pm to the nearest ATM to withdraw cash to pay him.” Most of the ATM galleries were not dispensing, thus Offor continued his search. It was in the process he noticed some vehicles in a convoy. Offor said: “No sooner than we got to the UBA, parked at the front of the Bank and came out of our vehicle to approach the ATM, we noticed that all the fleet of the said vehicular convoy stopped ahead of us. We noticed a considerable number of Mobile Policemen, armed with AK47 Rifles, approached, rounded us up and started barking at us, asking who we were.”
Offor recalled that he and the electrician were immediately ordered to open all doors of the vehicle and booth. He introduced himself and explained his quest for an ATM gallery. Just when Offor thought the policemen were done with them, they arrested them. When he asked the nature of their offence, mum was the word. He said that at one point, he thought they had fallen into the clutches of kidnappers disguised as police officers. They soon drove to Tiger Base, opposite the Imo State Government House. He said that when they drove in, they were petrified as some armed policemen pointed guns at them and wanted to shoot.
But the two officers that accompanied Offor and the electrician screamed: “Don’t shoot! Don’t shoot!” The armed policemen then broke into chants: “Shoot them! Kill them! Dagger them!”
Offor added: “My heartbeat was terrible as the whole incident had been too much for me. Inside, we saw a crowd of people, some with grievous wounds and injuries, bandages and so on, some lying down, some standing, and some squatting. “Many of the injuries on their various bodies were either bullet wounds, machete cuts, or dagger piercings. There was a stench from both the passages that led into a more deadly solitary confinement of small compartments, where human beings were kept for various categories of timelines, ranging from days, to weeks, some several months with such quantum of numbers, ranging between 30 to 40 suspects per patch as such does not even qualify to be regarded as rooms.
“Many of the suspects however were suffering from not only various degrees of grievous and harmful wounds, but also from many kinds of poor hygiene disease related ailments such as chicken pox and skin diseases. Many of those who had different major injuries were not taken proper care of. Their bodies were half rotten even though they were still breathing. Many of them complained to me that they had never been given access to their families as their phones were seized on the day of their arrest.
“Many were seriously malnourished. Some were dying daily, and corpses were being carted away to unknown places. The electrician and I were kept in solitary confinement for two nights, without access to our family members, friends, or relatives, just like what some of the detainees narrated to me. The cells were filled up and yet people were still being brought in at intervals and piled in like sardines, without a recourse to the number of suspects or health implications. Detainees had no food and water and were simply dying slowly but surely.”
The day after their arrest, Offor and his electrician were called out for their statements to be recorded. His initial IPO was one Austine, who later transferred his case to IPO Promise. Offor described Promise as “cruel, and abusive, given to threatening suspects, assaulting, and inflicting injuries”. He said that his trouble with Officer Promise began after he refused to cooperate with him to doctor his confessional statement.
Offor said that his statement was at the concluding part when Austin handed him to IPO Promise, who started interrogating him about his car. IPO Promise then went and searched Offor’s car, irrespective of the fact the car had been searched earlier.
He said: “IPO Promise accused me of all forms of crimes, ranging from being a drug addict, kidnapper, to assassin. When he could not find anything incriminating in my car, he began to point at my Registration Number, alleging that I covered it, which I refused. He went ahead to damage my transparent plate number cover, which had been there for several months without harassment by any Law enforcement agents on the road.
“At various intervals right from the time I was handed over to him, he assaulted me by beating and slapping me. I begged him to allow me to conclude my statement. After that, I handed it to him and he compelled me to read to his hearing all that I had written. He rejected my statement, brought a new statement paper, and ordered me to write an entirely new statement, which he must dictate to me. I was not only shocked by this development, but also faced a series of life, and physical threats from Officer Promise for objecting.
“His threats and anger continued to heighten, and his colleague, who was standing behind me, corked his gun, threatening to shoot me.
“At one point, another officer came with a machete, threatening to cut my back if I did not comply and write whatever Officer Promise asked me to write.
“Officer Promise then dictated thus: ‘That I and my gang of Kidnappers and Assassins had been trailing the convoy of the Honourable Special Assistant to the Governor on Security and Special Duties, Honourable Chinasa Nwaneri, with the aim of kidnapping and assassinating him.’
“When I heard the heinous charge and the names he mentioned, I was shocked! I maintained that I had already made a completed honest statement and that there was no need for either an excess or multiplicity of statements. He slapped me, and hit my forehead, ranting that I had condemned his statement sheet. He later said that he wanted to help me, but that I was rather stubborn.”
Offor said that Officer Promise then brought out their phones from his pocket and demanded passwords. Officer Promise accessed Offor’s phone and dived deep into his privacy. It was while Offor’s phone was being browsed, and he was sitting somewhere, waiting for Officer Promise to be done, that he noticed a middle-aged woman with two children. The woman later introduced herself as Mrs. Ebere. They chatted.
Ebere told him that she was at Tiger Base because her 20-year-old younger brother had been in detention for over two months. Ebere explained to Offor that she and her relatives had been frantically searching for the boy for a while before they got information that he was at Tiger Base. According to her, the boy was profiled and tagged as a cultist for merely wearing a black cap. He was grabbed along the road. The police dumped him in a cell and did not bother to alert his family members about his whereabouts. Ebere would later turn out to be a Good Samaritan for Offor. She collected Offor’s brother’s phone number and alerted him of Offor’s current location.
Meanwhile, Offor’s family was sickened by his sudden disappearance, especially because his phone was unreachable. Offor stated: “We spent a total of three days in their ‘custody of death’ without food or water. My sister brought food on the second and last day. I couldn’t eat it, so I gave it to the electrician and other detainees. I had no appetite. I could not stand the stench of the environment. After my release, I was shocked to find out policemen were using my vehicle for their chase and arrest operations.”
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A former detainee at Force Headquarters, FCT, Abuja, who wishes to be simply identified as Mrs. Blessing, said that she was arrested under a trump-up charge of her and her husband being members of the Indigenous People Of Biafra. IPOB, a separatist group in the South East region of Nigeria, aims to achieve a Republic of Biara, also known as Igbo Nation. In 2017, a court declared IPOB aa s terrorist organisation, leading to law enforcement agencies carrying out arbitrary arrests, illegal detentions, trump-up charges, and now generally cashing out with the proscription.
Blessing was one of those arrested over alleged membership with IPOB. She was moved to Abuja, where she met other women in detention, who were also charged with being IPOB members or lovers of IPOB members. The women soon started swapping stories of their arrest and sojourn in detention facilities.
Blessing recounted: “I didn’t pass through Tiger Base Police, but I was detained in Abuja with other women who passed through there. All these women were arrested under the guise that they were Biafra women or because of their husbands’ alleged Biafra activities. When they started sharing their experiences of Tiger Base Police, I was horrified. Tiger Base is a horror base!
One of our cellmates is called Melody. She was arrested and tagged as the girlfriend of an IPOB member. She was arrested with her father, who was in his 60’s. Melody’s father was shot to death inside Tiger Base, while Melody lost her four-month pregnancy after the police stomped on her stomach during torture. She started bleeding and her pregnancy was aborted.
Another case is about one Pastor Chinedu, who was arrested at Port Harcourt, Rivers State. He was arrested in lieu: the police were looking for his nephew and when they could not get him, they grabbed Pastor Chinedu.
Blessing said: “Pastor Chinedu started conducting morning devotion and prayer sessions with the detainees. He became well known. One night, the police came to call him, and immediately other detainees started weeping because they knew they would never see him again and that was what happened. We heard his children have dropped out of school.”
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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