Imo Command Tiger Base Police Unit: FMC Owerri Keeps Mum On Corpses Dump At Morgue, Lawyers Demand Oladimeji’s removal (5)

JULIANA FRANCIS in this concluding part of this investigation on Tiger Base Police human rights violations, reached out to the Nigeria Correctional Services and Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Owerri, via FoI requests, following allegations that a sizeable number of inmates are Tiger Base Police victims and also that most corpses from Tiger Base Police are dumped at FMC.

Chief Medical Officer FMC Snubs FoI Request As CG Of Nigeria Correctional Services Replies

According to Nonsokwa, a sizeable number of prison inmates awaiting trial in Imo State Prison passed through Tiger Base Police. The Police, using the judiciary, seemed to have made the prison a dumping ground.

This made the reporter send two FoI requests to the Acting Controller General of the Nigeria Correctional Service, Mr Sylvester N. Nwakuche.

The FoI, among other issues, seeks “To know the number of inmates on awaiting trial who are victims of/or passed through Tiger Base Police within the last five years (2000-2024).”

The first FoI is dated 4 February 2025, while the second, which is a reminder, is dated 3 March 2025.

The correctional services responded after a series of WhatsApp and SMS messages to the CG Nwakuche, and the Correctional Service Public Relations Officer, Abubakar Danlami Umar.

In a response dated 11^th of March 2025 and signed by Acting Director Legal Services, A. A Muhammad, for the Acting Controller General of  Corrections, said in part: “Further directed is to bring to your notice that admitting person(s) for legal custody in the custodial facility under S.10(a) of the Act is strictly on warrants/Order of detention from courts, the Nigerian Correctional Service is neither aware of any Tiger Base Police Detention Center nor receives person(s) from this purported Centre.

“Therefore, you are advised to verify your source of information accordingly as the correctional Service is a Statutory Agency governed by Extant Rules.”

The reporter sent two FOI requests through the chief medical director to the Chief physician at FMC, Owerri, Imo State.

The reporter heard that some Tiger Base Police detainees who were killed or died in custody are dumped at the FMC mortuary.

Indeed, CSP Oladimeji indirectly confirmed this when he mentioned via his FoI Request response that Ekene Francis Elemuwa, after his death, was deposited at FMC, “For preservation and autopsy.”

The FoI Requests sent to FMC, sought among other issues, “To know the number of bodies/corpses brought in and dumped by Tiger Base Police/Imo Command within the last five years (2000-2024)”

The first FoI Request is dated 17th of February 2025, which was sent through the courier service company, Red Star Express.

A tracking of the letter showed that one Happiness at FMC received it on the 17^th of February 2025 at about 3:47 pm.

A woman from FMC, with Truecaller showing name as Christy Emetoh, would later call the reporter, acknowledging receipt of the FoI from the courier company and also mentioning that the reporter forgot to sign it.

Emetoh asked for a scanned and signed copy to be sent to an email, fmcowerrimd2@gmail.com, which she provided via SMS. Since then, she refused to pick up phone calls or respond to SMS or WhatsApp messages.

The second FoI Request, which served as a reminder to FMC was sent on the 5th of March 2025 via the email address provided by Emetoh.

The reporter also reached out to one Dr Jacy, said to be the Public Relations Officer of FMC, but her phone line was switched off and she did not respond to WhatsApp messages.

The reporter got in contact with one Mr Ikechukwu, said to be the acting PRO of FMC, he did not respond to WhatsApp messages and hardly pick calls. When he eventually picked up his call, he promised to trace both FoI requests and also search for Christy Emetoh.

The reporter asked Ikechukwu for the Chief Medical Director’s phone number for direct communication, but it was not provided.

The Coordinator, of Sisters With A Goal Initiative, Ms Marjorie Ezihe, a human rights lawyer, has orchestrated the release of many detainees from Tiger Base Police and has had confrontations with the operatives.

Ezihe said that law enforcement and justice delivery are challenges in Imo State. She said that to seek justice, someone has to cough up money because law enforcement personnel are now hired.

Ezihe added: “When we call Tiger Base Police personnel out in public spaces, the Imo State CP and others, who should correct Tiger Base Personnel, will be saying, ‘If not for OC Oladimeji and his men, there will be no peace in Imo State.’ Last year, OC Oladimeji was given an award as the Best Cop, so you begin to see the challenge. It’s like pouring water on the back of a drum. We are talking about the human rights violations going on at Tiger Base and some people are awarding these policemen for these violations.

“For some of us, we need to be very careful on how we access that Tiger Base before somebody will do accidental discharge on us!  I’m always very careful when I go there. I know the hours and days to go there.

“I make sure that the CP and other senior officers are usually around before I go there. For us, it’s a very risky job because of these happenings. I handled a case where a girl was detained for three months, Tiger Base Police refused to grant her bail and refused to take her to court. In those three months, her widowed mother was traumatised and fell sick.

“Her brother’s life was paused because he was circling Tiger Base Police premises, so we wrote a petition and went to see the CP. The police were asking for millions for bail, and we refused. Where do they want the widowed mother to get such money from?

“They wanted her to sell land and hand money over to them. This is what most detainees do. Many families have become homeless and indigent because of these police personnel.”

Human Rights Activist Obi, earlier mentioned in this investigation, was arrested when he went to Tiger Base Police to give food to a detainee.

Speaking on solutions to the Tiger Base Police impunities, Obi said: “It can only get better when we have good leadership. I’m not talking about the executive; I’m talking about the Police. If we can have a good system, everything will take care of itself.

“It’s sad that 99 per cent of Nigerians do not know their rights. Nigeria Police has instilled fear into us, and it is this fear we must remove. Nobody wants to die, nobody wants to tell the truth and nobody wants to condemn the Police.

“The only way to change things is to have a governor in Imo State, who got in via a democratic ticket. Nothing will work unless we have a brand new system that comes in with the fear of God. If not, there is nothing we can say in this country to make it work. Even you as a journalist are not safe! If you want to make this news loud, what resources do you have to be safe?

“Police tell us bail is free, but it’s not, and lawyers who should fight for the people, are now collaborating with the Police. A lawyer will go with you to the police station and the police will be talking, and threatening, the lawyer will keep quiet. Look at this investigation you’re going after, if you go further, they will start coming after you because they do not have the fear of God!”

Barrister Justus Uche Ijeoma Is A Human Rights Activist based in Anambra State, this reporter chatted with him in his office.

Ijeoma said that SARS was not dismantled as believed by many, it “merely got rechristened.” He said that the atrocities that happened in SARS before the #ENDSARS Protest, have currently assumed a more worrisome dimension. According to him, SARS is a metaphor, and change should not be about ending one formation of the Nigeria Police.

His words: “What we are talking about is ending official impunity that has become a daily reoccurrence in the Nigerian Policing System. It’s not about SARS. At that time, we had a Special Tactical Squad (STS) headed by DCP Kolo. We had an Intelligence Response Team (IRT), headed by DCP Abba Kyari, lacking completely in intelligence, thriving in brutality and criminality! When we were shouting, nobody listened, but time exposed the atrocities that went on in that IRT Unit.

“My point is that the impunity that happened in SARS continues in formations like IRT, STS, Tiger Base, and Crack Units, which Commands have in some states. In Anambra, I think it’s the Anti-Kidnapping Unit, and they do exactly those things that Nigerians loathed, things that make Nigerians angry, for which Nigerians stormed the streets calling for #EndSARS.”

The Lawyer noted that to check the impunities of some police personnel is to have a functional oversight body, this was even as he described the Police Service Commission (PSC) as a “dead and buried,” oversight body for the Police.

“The PSC in Nigeria is only a retirement haven for police officers in Nigeria. I have petitions pending before the PSC, they are not doing anything,” the lawyer fumed. “I have petitions pending before the PSC about the corrupt dealings of police officers and the PSC cannot cough, let alone act! Today, DCP Fakorode is heading IGP’s Monitoring Unit in Abuja, but the monitoring unit is supposed to be the conscience of the Nigerian police.

“Fakorode is a serial human rights abuser, it is ingrained in his system. He was documented and indicted by the #ENDSARS Panel in Port Harcourt as the head of SARS. His crimes here in Anambra State are well-known as the head of both State CID in Awka and Zonal Command, Zone 13.

“There is no oversight mechanism. It’s only when officers are caught on camera and it becomes a social media issue, that the police authority will come to social media to make a noise. The truth is most of the officers you see that are sanctioned are not in a real sense sanctioned. They are only redeployed to another location. The whole thing is sickening! It’s discouraging and it’s not what we bargained for.  This is not how a system is built. The police leadership is complicit in the impunity happening.

“These Police and their checkpoints are causing traffic jams, and nothing happens to them. They are on the highway with markers, collecting money and giving drivers a balance of their money. They have all naira note denominations. They are trading on the highway and every motorist is waiting in line for policemen committing a crime! Such a crime cannot happen without official support.

“It is not possible that the commissioners of police in states cannot know what is happening. Try to travel from here to Owerri, a distance of about 120 kilometres and see the number of police checkpoints on the road. If you dare go out of that line, the police will start shouting as if they have caught an armed robber.”

Ijeoma argued that changing the status quo begins with the changing of the Nigeria Police leadership.

He opined that the police leadership, IGP, CPs and others, should come alive to their responsibilities.

His words: “There is a complete failure of leadership! Our political leaders are also docile because there is either a benefit from the system or something else. If you report a matter to Zone 13, and you want your petition to be approved for investigation, the minimum you will pay is  N300,000 as a mobilisation fee, only then will a police officer get up to work. They tell you it’s’ the norm. Why? Who do you report such a crime to? It’s very frustrating!”

Ijeoma said that the Criminal Justice System has been messed up because police investigation is at the base of the Criminal Justice System, the failure of investigation means a collapse of the system.

“If the foundation collapses, there’s nothing a judge can do. If the investigation is not watertight, there’s nothing a judge and a prosecutor can do. When we’re talking about policing, they are the main investigation body in Nigeria’s Criminal Justice System,” said the lawyer.

If the Nigeria Police Force can function effectively, then every other thing will fall into its appropriate place, said Ijeoma. He opined that Police corruption is so deep that, “No poor man can complain to the Police station today because of money.”

He explained: “If you don’t pay, your matter will not even enter the crime diary. I’m not talking about mobilisation money. First, reporting at the counter for your matter to be incidented and recorded in the crime diary you must pay. Is the CP saying he doesn’t know? Is the area commander saying he doesn’t know?”

Barrister Faith Nkiruka Obisike Is A Human Rights Lawyer, working with the Sisters With A Goal Initiative. The reporter met with her in Imo State.

She said that as a lawyer, she has received several briefs of clients, who were arrested and taken to Tiger Base Police. She was particularly disturbed about a civil matter of Tenancy in which Tiger Bass Police got involved.  The incident happened on the 22nd of December, 2024.

The lawyer, who still sounded shocked, said: “The Police had no business with a civil matter, but in this case, the police went to my client’s house at 2:am to arrest him! When I told the IPO, one Justina, that the matter was a civil one, she said she knew. She then asked me, ‘How can a landlady tell a tenant to pack out of her house and the tenant will refuse?’ This is even a different ball game because the tenant’s rent has not expired.”

Obisike said that the landlord went to Tiger Base Police, to “show muscle and to intimidate the tenant, claiming the tenant was threatening to kill her.”

The lawyer said that she was further shocked when the woman police told her that the Police knew the landlady was lying about the threat to life, “But because the landlady had already paid them, she said they had to carry out the job.”

Obisike recalled: “When I asked for my client’s bail, Police demanded N700,000. I asked them what crime my client had committed. I had to meet their commander, CSP Oladimeji, who told me that since he had intervened, the IPO should collect N200,000. My client was bailed with a huge sum of N200,000 at Tiger Base.”

The lawyer also mentioned another civil case, which has to do with the selling of land. She asked rhetorically: “How can Tiger Base Police keep getting involved in civil matters? The agent that sold the land was asked to bring N500,000 for his bail, in a matter that was just a mere misunderstanding.

“I still met their commander OC Oladimeji, who ended up telling us to pay N150,000. In another civil case between two brothers, one ran to Tiger Base Police and got his brother arrested. Tiger Base Police asked the arrested brother to pay N800,000. He ended up paying N200,000.

“Tiger Base Police extorts money from people unnecessarily. Matters they are not supposed to delve into, they will go into it. Again, proper investigation is always never carried out by these personnel. There was an occasion when a client of mine had already paid N800,000 before calling me. When I got there, I didn’t know what to do. What was the issue? It was just the issue of someone owing a friend some money. Tiger Base Police Personnel has turned to debt recovery agents.”

Obisike said that the solution to the ongoing corruption and human rights abuses at Tiger Base was the total removal of OC Oladimeji from the Unit and Imo State Command.

She added: “I have seen a situation at the State CID, whereby the CP got information about his men’s involvement in a civil matter and instructed them to release the suspect. The instruction was carried out and a dime was not collected.

“But if it’s the Anti-kidnapping Unit, which is Tiger Base Police, OC Oladimeji can never allow his operatives to grant bail to anyone for free. The person must pay, and the money usually starts from N200,000 upwards.

“I have never seen where someone is being billed with N100,000 at the Tiger Base. For clients or cases I have attended to, it’s always from N200,000 upwards. I think the best solution to these human rights violations and impunities is for the OC of Tiger Base to leave! If CSP Oladimeji is there, these things will continue. Several petitions have been written against him and his Unit, yet nothing has been done about them.

“There was a particular land issue case, which was so frustrating that I had to write a petition to the CP, and the CP instructed OC Oladimeji to release my client, but Oladimeji ignored the CP. Instead, I was asked, ‘So you wrote a petition to the CP, let’s see how your client will come out of detention without paying.’”

The Executive Director of RULAAC, Okechukwu Nwanguma, told this reporter that he had engaged CSP Oladimeji in more than three instances of human rights violations by his men. In those three instances, Oladimeji admitted that his men made wrongful arrests but still went ahead to extort those victims.

Nwanguma added: “Tiger Base Police is very notorious for human rights violations. OC Oladimeji answers directly to the governor of Imo State, not the CP. Oladimeji is above the law and the governor is using him. Tiger Base Police is just like the former Awkuzu SARS in Anambra State. The same horror is taking place at Tiger Base.”

National Human Rights Commission Response To FoI Request Indicts Tiger Police For Human Rights Abuses

This reporter in an FoI Request dated 3rd of February 2025, to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), requested, among other issues, to know, “ the number of complaints received by the NHRC from members of the public regarding alleged human  rights violations at the Tiger Base Police Detention Center, Owerri, Imo State, within the last five years (2000-2024)”

The NHRC, in its response dated 7 March 2025, listed several human rights abuses received from members of the public against Tiger Base Police and also mentioned actions taken by the Commission on each complaint.

The response and list therefore further indicted Tiger Base Police personnel and further concretized allegations of detainees.

The Commission has received among others, complaints of torture and prolonged detention, abuse of fundamental rights and illegal detention. The Commission said it intervened on petitions it received and also mentioned that some cases are still ongoing

Police Service Commission Replies To FoI Request

The Director of NHRC, Lagos State, Dr Lucas B. Koyejo, on the 12^th of March 2025, at a public forum in Lagos State, while presenting a paper on; ‘Police Accountability in Lagos State: An Appraisal,’ said that the Police Service Commission (PSC) is saddled with investigating and disciplining of officers involved in misconduct, abuse of power, or violations of human rights.

The PSC also monitors the conduct and performance of police officers to ensure compliance with professional standards and ethical behaviour, receives and investigates complaints from the public regarding police misconduct, brutality, or corruption and ensures that police officers are held accountable for their actions and that victims of police abuse receive justice.

The reporter in two FoI Requests dated 3^rd and 24^th of February, 2025, seeks to know, among other issues, “The number of complaints of human rights abuses brought against Imo State Police/Tiger Base within the last five years (2000-2024).”

The PSC Public Relations Officer, Mr Ikechukwu Ani, on the 12^th of March, replied thus: “The Commission received the above request which was minuted to the relevant Departments for relevant information as requested by you.

“The Commission after a thorough search conducted into all the incoming mail Registers could not find any correspondence on the above subject. The Commission wishes to advise that you may also direct this FOI Request to the Nigeria Police Force. The Commission will continue to be open and ready to partner with you in this crusade to stamp out Human Rights violations in our country. Please accept the Commission’s sincere regards.”

A Joint Statement Signed By 11 Civil Society Organizations in the southeast, dated November 30, 2024, stated that the unchecked human rights violations occurring at Tiger Base Police continue because the personnel appear to have the tacit support of the government of the day.

The group stated: “Utilizing the Anti-Kidnapping Unit at Tiger Base, and the State Investigation Department (SID) of the Imo State Police Command  Owerri,  the governor has resorted to abduction-style tactics against perceived opponents, leading to prolonged detentions, remanding of individuals in prison, and deliberately stalling their trials to silence dissent and keep them out of public view.

“These police units have gained a reputation for rogue and predatory actions, including profiling and arbitrarily arresting young individuals falsely labelled as IPOB members, politically motivated arrests, torture, inhumane treatment of detainees held incommunicado, extortion, and enforced disappearances.”

The group said that the independence of the police needed to be safeguarded to ensure that the Nigerian Police Force could effectively serve the community without undue influence.

The Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, warned all officers regarding serious breaches of human rights on February 10, 2025, during a virtual meeting with the police senior strategic manager, emphasizing the Force’s duty to uphold these rights.

The IGP frowns against such acts, having received various complaints regarding Human Rights Violations through the Force’s complaint channels.

The IGP states that any conduct violating Human Rights will not be tolerated and will be met with severe consequences.

Note: Some detainees who spoke with the reporter requested their real names should not be used to avoid being rearrested or targeted by Tiger Base Police Personnel.

This Report Was Supported By the Rule Of Law And Accountability Advocacy Centre As Part Of Its Interventions In Southeast Insecurity and Its Impact On Human Rights, Civic Space And Development.

Concluded