Juliana Francis
Nigeria investigative reporter, Juliana Francis, earlier this year, 2025, carried a five-part investigative report, here, here, here, here, and here, exposing the horrific human rights violations going on at the Anti-kidnapping Unit of the Imo State Police Command, otherwise known as Tiger Base.
Despite repeated calls by human rights activists and lawyers, demanding accountability of police officers accused of such abuses and demanding the removal of the Unit Head, Commander Odeyiwa Oladimeji, who was recently promoted from the rank of Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP) to Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), killings, torture and enforced disappearance have continued.
The statistics of the death toll and suspects continue to escalate. Currently, Japhet Njoku, a 32-year-old security guard at Alaba Market in Owerri, is the latest addition. He died in Tiger Base police custody, Imo State Police Command, after being allegedly tortured by Inspector Barnabas and his team in June 2025.
The police action followed accusations by Mrs. Oluchi Obiagwu, a trader and sister to a serving operative at Tiger Base, who claimed Njoku was responsible for some of her missing goods worth over N15 million.
It was gathered that she allegedly latched onto a matter over missing cigarettes to blame Japheth Njoku for the loss of her goods over the past four years, an accusation the market authorities claimed she had never previously reported to them or the police.
Japhet was tortured to death in Tiger Base custody after prolonged detention between March and May 2025.
The grieving and indigent family of Mr. Japhet Njoku, who was brutally and unlawfully killed by operatives of the notorious Tiger Base, Owerri, on May 5, 2025.
A Coroner’s Court sitting in Owerri has ordered an independent autopsy on the late Japhet Njoku as a crucial step towards justice.
However, the autopsy, initially scheduled for June 27–28, could not be held due to the family’s inability to raise the sum of ₦350,000 required by their nominated pathologist.
The court has now granted a final extension until July 31, 2025, and the autopsy must be conducted within this window.
Japhet’s widow, Mrs. Augusta Njoku, and his brothers, who are of limited means, are struggling not only to raise this amount but also to care for his two-month-old baby. Their quest for justice is now at risk of being derailed by poverty.
Japhet’s lawyer, Barrister Chris Nwadigo, said justice might be derailed if money for the autopsy is not raised.
His words: “Honestly, we are having challenges on where to raise money for the autopsy because the coroner’s court ordered us to foot the bill to avoid manipulation. The autopsy has been adjourned three times.”
Similarly, Mr. Onuocha Johnbosco has been missing to date after being arrested and taken into custody by Operatives from the Unit.
Johnbosco, an indigene of Umuoni, Ihiteafoukwu, in Ahiazu Mbaise Local Government Area of Imo State, was arrested and held incommunicado and then disappeared.
The family members believed that he had been extrajudicially killed by operatives of the Anti-Kidnapping Squad, also known as Tiger Base, in Owerri, Imo State.
On the 31st May 2025, at his place of business in Ekeziama, Ahiazu Mbaise, Johnbosco was approached by unknown men in a white Sienna vehicle who posed as customers.
Without identifying themselves or stating the purpose of their visit, the men suddenly handcuffed him and whisked him away after shouting, “Catch him, na him.”
They looted equipment and documents from his office before leaving. When community members tried to intervene, the operatives fired sporadically into the air to disperse them.
After his abduction, his family members reported the incident at the Ahiazu Mbaise Police Station, where the officials at the station informed them that no such arrest had been registered.
The initial confusion and denial continued for days. Community members and witnesses suggested the operatives might be from Tiger Base in Owerri.
On the 2nd June 2025, family members made multiple visits to various police formations in Imo State, including the State CID, Tiger Base, and the Command headquarters.
They paid ₦3,000 at the Police Control Room for an all-station alert, but no division confirmed his detention.
On 4th June, they discovered an online publication by the Imo State Police Command dated 3rd June alleging that Johnbosko was apprehended after a shoot-out with police officers and was found with items linked to IPOB/ESN.
This narrative was clearly fabricated, as several witnesses, including community members, had already attested that he was abducted peacefully from his business premises without incident.
Despite repeated visits to Tiger Base with family members and legal counsel, including visits facilitated by a respected radio journalist and human rights activist, Mr. Nonso Nkwa, the operatives continued to deny his presence.
Eventually, the Investigating Police Officer (IPO) admitted that Johnbosco was indeed in their custody. Following this, Tiger Base Commander, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), Mr Odeyiwa Oladimeji, admitted to Mr. Nonso Nkwa that Johnbosko was shot while attempting to escape and died in their custody.
However, his body has not been produced, no official notification has been given to the family, and there has been no investigation into the incident or the initial denials.
Although the same commander Oladimeji, admitted to Johnbosco’s father that his operatives raided and burned their family home on two occasions, he contradicted himself when he told Nonso Nkwa that it was an angry community mob that carried out the arson, acts which had previously gone unpunished due to lack of clear attribution and the breakdown of law enforcement structures during the height of insecurity in Imo State.
The family considers the actions of the operatives of Tiger Base and the Imo State Police Command to be in flagrant violation of Section 33 and 35 of the 1999 Constitution (Right to Life and Personal Liberty), the Anti-Torture Act, 2017, which Nigeria’s obligations under international human rights law, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention Against Torture and the Nigeria Police Force’s own operational guidelines and the Police Act, 2020.
Despite this clear and continual impunity and human rights abuses, the police oversight body, the Police Service Commission, the National Human Rights Commission and Imo State Government have continued to maintain a disturbing silence without taking action.
Johnbosko’s lawyer, Barrister Ike Augustine, said that following the disappearance of his client while in Tiger Base Unit custody, he has applied to the High Court of Imo State, which is still pending because of the lingering disagreement between the Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodimma, and the National Judicial Council.
Augustine said, “The Police have the burden to produce his body. Already the application has been fined, but the judge is not on the ground. The Officer in charge of the Unit, Oladimeji, has become a monster and continues to kill extrajudicially. It is really irritating. And he is being promoted.”
The Executive Director of Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre (RULAAC), Mr Okechukwu Nwanguma, said: “ It is telling and deeply troubling that despite widespread public outcry, investigative reports, petitions, and media exposures on arbitrary arrests, unlawful detention, torture, extortion, extrajudicial killings, and enforced disappearances perpetrated by the Anti-Kidnapping Unit (Tiger Base) of the Imo State Police Command, neither the police authorities nor oversight bodies have acted.
“No investigation has been launched, no perpetrators held accountable, and no effort made to halt the impunity that drives these grave violations. Without decisive action, Nigeria risks another citizen revolt even more cataclysmic than #EndSARS.
“The silence and inaction of the Imo State Government and the police hierarchy at Force Headquarters – evidently driven by political calculations – amount to complicity in shielding rogue officers who continue to unleash human rights atrocities on citizens.”
