By Okechukwu Nwanguma
The sudden circulation on social media of a so‑called “confessional interview” allegedly made by Onuoha Johnbosco while in the custody of the Anti‑Kidnapping Unit of the Imo State Police Command, popularly known as Tiger Base, raises grave legal, ethical, and human rights concerns.
*Circumstances of Arrest*
Johnbosco was arrested at his printing shop in an open and busy market by police operatives who posed as customers. After identifying him by name, they took him away. The arrest was carried out in full public view and without resistance.
Alarmed, neighbouring traders immediately contacted his family. His relatives began a desperate search, moving from the Ahiazu Mbaise Police Division, to Tiger Base, and finally to the Imo State Police Headquarters, Owerri. At every point, the police denied having him in custody.
At no time was his family informed of his arrest or detention, in clear violation of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), the Police Act 2020, and the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA).
*False Narratives and Contradictions*
Despite later claims by the police in the circulated video that arms and ammunition were recovered from Johnbosco’s shop, he was never publicly paraded, contrary to the police’s routine practice in cases involving serious crimes.
There was no legal practitioner or other representative present during the recorded interrogation, rendering the so‑called confession illegal, constitutionally defective, and inadmissible under the ACJA and established judicial precedents.
The family only learned of his whereabouts after the Imo State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) issued a press statement claiming that Johnbosco had been arrested following a gun battle with police operatives, during which he allegedly sustained gunshot injuries.
According to Johnbosco’s sister, Collete, when she visited Tiger Base to seek clarification, she questioned the PPRO on how someone arrested openly in a market square could suddenly be described as having engaged in a gun battle with the police. She stated that the PPRO responded that he had been writing two reports at the same time and had mistakenly mixed up details from another case with her brother’s case. This explanation, rather than resolving the contradiction, raises grave concerns about recklessness, falsification of official records, and deliberate misinformation in a matter involving life and death.
In a further contradictory account, the Commander of Tiger Base later claimed that the same detainee – already said to have sustained gunshot injuries during a gun battle – was shot again while attempting to escape by scaling the Tiger Base fence. Anyone familiar with the highly fortified, restricted, and heavily guarded nature of Tiger Base will immediately recognize the implausibility of this claim.
*Denial of Access and Concealment*
The Commander reportedly showed the confession video to Johnbosco’s father and later to his sister, without allowing them to see or speak with him. To date, the police have failed to disclose what happened to Johnbosco’s remains, raising serious concerns of enforced disappearance, unlawful killing, and obstruction of justice.
Johnbosco’s sister further disclosed that the Commander initially told her father that Ebubeagu operatives and the police had burnt their family house twice, blaming the family for failing to report the incidents. This narrative later changed. In a separate conversation with journalist Nonso Nkwa, the Commander claimed instead that the house was burnt by a village mob protesting Johnbosco’s alleged involvement in the assassination of an unnamed traditional ruler.
*A Recurrent Pattern at Tiger Base*
These shifting narratives are not isolated incidents. The Commander of Tiger Base has repeatedly offered the same explanations whenever detainees die in custody:
– They were shot during an alleged escape attempt;
– They were injured in a supposed gun battle;
– Or they fell ill and died after being taken to hospital.
This pattern is disturbingly consistent across multiple cases.
*The Case of Japheth Njoku*
In the case of Japheth Njoku, the police initially claimed he died of illness while in custody after being arrested for armed robbery and kidnapping. However, his family members and lawyers were repeatedly denied access to him, even as police officers continued to extort money from the family and collect food purportedly on his behalf.
More troublingly, after the Coroner’s Court ordered an autopsy to determine the cause of Japheth Njoku’s death, Tiger Base operatives frustrated and obstructed the process by failing to produce the body, withholding critical information, and effectively rendering the court order unenforceable. This conduct not only undermined the coroner’s inquest but also amounted to interference with the administration of justice and an attempt to permanently conceal the true cause of death.
Earlier, Thaddeus Ikechukwu Ojokoh had been paraded as one of the gunmen responsible for a deadly attack on police officers at Okpala – despite being in police custody at the time of the attack. Following public outrage and intervention by RULAAC and the media, the police quietly charged him to court and later abandoned the case.
Only afterward did the police change their narrative, claiming he merely participated in the planning of the attack – a claim never mentioned during his public parade. Ojokoh survived only because timely advocacy and media exposure disrupted what appeared to be an imminent extrajudicial execution.
*Legal and Moral Imperatives*
Even if Johnbosco were guilty of the offences he was made to confess to under duress, the law is unambiguous:
– He ought to have been promptly charged to court;
– Any confession should have been tested before a judge;
– No law grants the police the power to execute a suspect;
– Torture and extrajudicial killing are themselves grave crimes.
– The police cannot fight crime by committing crime.
*Nigeria’s Troubling History of Police Frame‑Ups*
Nigeria has a long and disturbing history of police framing innocent persons, planting weapons, and fabricating confessions to justify unlawful killings.
The most notorious example remains the Apo Six killings of 2005, where six unarmed civilians were murdered and falsely branded armed robbers. Judicial inquiries exposed the lies. The Federal Government – under President Obasanjo – apologized, paid compensation to the families, and two police officers – Ezekiel Achejene and Emmanuel Baba – were convicted and sentenced to death.
Similarly, the police nearly succeeded in framing Rev. David Ugolor for the assassination of Olaitan Oyerinde. His case exposed torture‑induced confessions, planted evidence, and manipulated identification parades, until sustained civil society pressure dismantled the false narrative.
*Conclusion*
The case of Onuoha Johnbosco fits squarely into Nigeria’s long and ugly pattern of impunity, deception, torture, and extrajudicial execution by law enforcement agencies.
What Nigeria urgently requires is not another police press statement or staged confession video, but:
– An independent, transparent investigation into Tiger Base;
– Full disclosure of the fate and whereabouts of Johnbosco’s remains;
– Accountability for all officers involved; and
– Structural reforms to dismantle the entrenched culture of violence, lies, and impunity within law enforcement.
Justice delayed – or denied – only deepens public mistrust and perpetuates the cycle of violence.
Mr Okechukwu Nwanguma is Executive Director Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre (RULAAC)
