Jurist Nigeria police unit engaged in torture and extrajudicial executions, rights group reports

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Rights group Amnesty International reported on Wednesday that a Nigerian police unit known as Tiger Base, established to combat kidnapping and armed robbery in Imo State, has allegedly engaged in unlawful killings, torture, and other forms of ill-treatment of suspects.

In a report titled Tiger Base of Atrocities: Human Rights Violations by Nigeria Police Anti-Kidnapping Unit in Owerri, Amnesty International found that detainees were held in “filthy, windowless cells” and subjected to regular beatings. The report also found many suspects were being detained for weeks or months without charge, while others were allegedly shot or forcibly disappeared.

Each of Tiger Base’s four main detention cells measures about 12 feet by 12 feet, with more than 70 people squeezed inside. As a result, detainees are forced to take turns sitting or squatting. There are no windows in the cells and only one toilet per cell, which overflows with waste as people are forced to urinate, defecate, and sleep in the same small place.

Several individuals were reported to have perished in the Tiger Base detention center. In 2022, three youth leaders surrendered a suspect to the Tiger Base unit. Approximately three months later, the young man, Okechukwu Ogbedagu, succumbed to death while in detention. Amnesty International conducted an autopsy, revealing that Okechukwu Ogbedagu had died of asphyxiation. To conceal their wrongdoing, Tiger Base officers charged the three young officers who had handed Okechukwu Ogbedagu to them with murder. After about six months, they were released.

Former detainees alleged they were forced to sign incriminating statements under torture. Reported methods included beatings with iron rods and cables, as well as the use of knives, machetes, batons, whips, and water. Some detainees said they were tied with ropes and suspended while being cut and left to bleed.

Isa Sanusi, the director of Amnesty International Nigeria, stated:

Tiger Base has become synonymous with police operating outside of the law and abusing their power to enrich themselves through extortion. The atrocities committed by the Tiger Base police unit is yet another sign of the Nigerian authorities’ failure to end widespread torture, extrajudicial execution, extortion and other crimes at the hands of law enforcement. Many are traumatized forever. Despite the horrific violations they have suffered, there has been no accountability to date.

Amnesty International called on Nigerian authorities to establish an independent, impartial, and effective investigation into the alleged abuses by Tiger Base officers in Owerri, including the conduct of the unit’s commander and other personnel.

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