Marcel Duru Owerri, ú8A Chief Magistrate’s Court sitting as a Coroner in Owerri has ordered the prosecution of the Commander of the Imo State Police Anti-Kidnapping Unit, popularly known as Tiger Base, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Oladimeji Odeyeyiwa, over the death of a 32-year-old man, Japheth Njoku, in ypolice custody.The Court presided over by *Chief Magistrate E.U. Chinaka delivered its findings on September 30, 2026*, in the coroner’s inquest marked *OW/MISC/425/2025*.The Findings:The court found that Japheth Njoku was arrested on March 29, 2025, over an allegation of stealing goods at Alaba Market, Lagos, a bailable offence, and was detained at Tiger Base for about *six weeks without bail or being charged to court.The coroner held that *Inspector Barnabas* demanded N500,000 for police bail and an additional N300,000 for the complainant, Ugomore Oluchi Obiagwu, which the deceased and his family could not afford. That, the court said, was the reason he remained in detention.”The offence for which the deceased was arrested was stealing which is a bailable offence,” the court ruled. “The deceased was detained for a long period of time which contravened the stipulated period within which a defendant was supposed to stay pending investigation.”The court further ruled that the story that Njoku was a terrorist who confessed was”concocted to cover prolonged detention and extortion” by the officers.Conditions at Tiger Base:According to evidence from four witnesses, including former detainee Basil Ekenyere, Tiger Base cells were overcrowded with over 45 inmates, inmates were forced to sleep standing, had foul toilets, and two to three persons allegedly died per day due to torture and poor conditions.
Autopsy showed the cause of death was meningitis, bronchial pneumonia and hypertensive heart disease, but the court held that prolonged detention and inhuman conditions caused his health to deteriorate and led to his death.The court ordersThe Imo State Ministry of Justice should prosecute ACP Oladimeji Odeyeyiwa and Inspector Barnabas for alleged extortion, corruption and intimidation.Compensation and burial expenses be paid to the family of the deceased.All officers serving at Tiger Base be transferred, CCTV be installed and officers retrained.According to the Magistrate Court rexcommendations to be implemented within three months.The inquest was filed by *Mrs. Augusta Njoku, Uchechukwu Njoku and Chibuzo Njoku*, through their counsel *Dr. C.C. Nwadigo*, under the Coroners Law, Cap 29, Laws of Eastern Nigeria, 1963.As at press time, the Imo State Police Command and the Attorney-General of the State have not commented on the implementation of the order.The development has reignited calls by human rights groups including RULAAC and Amnesty International for the shutdown of Tiger Base, which they described as a “torture chamber worse than SARS.”
