Terrifying accounts are emerging from survivors of Tiger Base Police, the Anti-Kidnapping Unit under the Imo State Police Command in Owerri, where detainees say torture, sexual assault, illegal detention, and extrajudicial killings are business as usual. Despite the national reckoning that followed the 2020 #EndSARS protests, victims allege that human rights violations at the notorious facility have intensified in secrecy, targeting young women, random civilians, and even clergymen.
Chinonso, a 25-year-old woman arrested in March 2024 for failing to report a stolen phone, was held for three months without charge. Locked in a heat-stricken cell without ventilation, she recounts seeing women beaten, sex workers collapsing from suffocation, and corpses dragged out daily. “Many of us thought we would never leave alive,” she whispered. Her statement was only taken after a human rights organization intervened—months after her arrest. Her IPO, identified as Chidi Igwe, never explained why her case was connected to a murder.
The family of 34-year-old Ekenedilichukwu Elemuwa is still searching for answers—and his corpse. Arrested on August 28, 2023, along with a friend while retrieving his phone, Ekene was never charged, never arraigned, and never allowed to contact family. Fellow detainees told his uncle, Rev. Onyekwere, that he collapsed in custody and died. Police claimed he died en route to a hospital, but offered no medical record, death certificate, or burial details. Inspector Moses and SP Oladimeji, both named in the case, continue to avoid accountability despite petitions to the IGP.
Mr. Offor and his electrician were tortured and accused of attempting to assassinate a state official after unknowingly driving near a government convoy. Detained in November 2022, they were beaten, denied food for 72 hours, and forced to sign false confessions at gunpoint. Offor described detainees with festering wounds, gunshot injuries, and rotting limbs. “Many were dying daily… It was hell,” he said. His vehicle was later seen being used by Tiger Base operatives for arrests.
Melody, a pregnant woman arrested alongside her father for alleged IPOB ties, reportedly lost her baby after police stomped her abdomen during interrogation. Her father was executed in custody. Another detainee, Pastor Chinedu, was arrested in lieu of his nephew and disappeared after being summoned one night. “They came for him, and we never saw him again,” said a fellow inmate held at FCT headquarters in Abuja.
Even civil disputes are criminalized. Reverend Victor was arrested at 1:00 a.m. on October 27, 2024, after confronting a relative over child rape allegations. Despite having proof, the accused paid his way out and used police to retaliate. Victor and his wife spent days in detention among wounded detainees and were extorted of ₦250,000 for bail. “That place needs to be shut down. It is a war camp, not a police unit,” he warned.
The story of Opara, a tenant arrested over a rent dispute with his landlady, reveals the abuse of civil authority. Despite ongoing litigation, police at Tiger Base demanded ₦700,000 for bail, verbally abused him, and forced him to sign an undertaking to vacate his apartment—months before his rent expired. “I tried to explain it was a civil case, but they laughed. They said the police is always right,” he said.
This exposé, supported by the Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre, underscores the urgent need for an independent probe and permanent dismantling of Tiger Base Police. Survivors live in fear of retaliation, yet continue to speak out. “We must break this silence,” says human rights lawyer Marjorie Ezihe. “Tiger Base is a death sentence disguised as law enforcement.”
