Broken neck in custody: Amnesty International exposes alleged torture at Imo’s notorious Tiger Base police unit
By Ishaya Ibrahim
Amnesty International has called on the Inspector-General of Police, Olatunji Disu to immediately end the abuses at the notorious anti-kidnapping unit in Imo State popularly known as Tiger Base.
In a statement posted on X (formerly Twitter), the organisation accused the police unit in Owerri of perpetrating systemic human rights violations, including torture and deaths in custody, as evidenced by autopsy reports.
The rights group cited a documented case from 2022 in which three youth leaders handed over a suspect, Okechukwu Ogbedagu, to the Tiger Base unit. About three months later, the young man died while in detention.
An autopsy report reviewed by Amnesty International revealed that Ogbedagu suffered severe injuries to the neck, including broken neck bones, bleeding around the neck, and damage consistent with strong pressure applied to the neck.
“The injuries indicated that his neck was forcibly compressed and violently bent or twisted — actions that would have blocked breathing and blood flow to the brain, leading to suffocation and death by asphyxiation,” it said.
“This demonstrates that the deceased may have been subjected to torture and ill-treatment,” Amnesty International added.
In an apparent attempt to cover up the incident, Tiger Base officials charged the three youth leaders who had handed over Ogbedagu with his murder. The men spent six months in deplorable conditions in the unit’s detention cells before they were eventually released on bail.
In a separate incident, Japhet Njoku, a security guard accused of theft, died in Tiger Base detention on May 6, 2025. According to Amnesty, officials initially told his family — after repeated demands for information — that he was beaten to death by other inmates in the cell.
However, an autopsy report reviewed by the organisation revealed that Njoku died from severe pneumonia, which impaired his breathing and significantly reduced oxygen levels. He had been held for several months under harsh, cold, and unsanitary conditions without proper medical care — conditions that likely contributed to his death.
Amnesty International noted that Tiger Base officials repeatedly obstructed a coroner-ordered autopsy to determine the exact cause of Njoku’s death.
The rights group called on the Inspector-General of Police, the Nigeria Police Force, the Police Service Commission, and the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to end abuses at the unit and ensure full accountability for the violations.
