At least 41 people remanded in two weeks as rights group accuses police unit of retaliation, hostage-taking, and enforced disappearances
The Coalition Against Tigerbase Police Impunity, CAPTI, has accused the Anti-Kidnapping Unit of the Imo State Police Command, popularly known as Tiger Base, of responding to growing public scrutiny with mass arrests, alleged retaliation, and continued human rights abuses.
In a public statement released on December 26, 2025, CAPTI disclosed that no fewer than 41 people were remanded at the Owerri Correctional Centre between December 10 and December 23, 2025, following the launch of the #TigerBaseMustFall campaign and the release of a report documenting over 200 deaths in Tiger Base custody.
According to CAPTI, the police response has not been accountability but what it described as “escalation and cover-up.”
“This is retaliation masquerading as law enforcement,” said Juwon Sanyaolu, Coordinator of CAPTI and National Coordinator of the Take It Back Movement. “Within days of our report launch on December 15, Tiger Base dramatically tried to cover up its atrocities by decongesting its terror cells. The message is clear: demand accountability, and they will demonstrate exactly why accountability is needed.”
CAPTI documented a sharp increase in remands shortly after the campaign gained national and international attention. Records cited by the group show that 19 people were remanded on December 10, 17 on December 16, four on December 18, and one on December 23, bringing the total to 41 people in just 14 days.
The organisation noted that this represents an average of nearly three people per day being sent from Tiger Base to prison, a development it said coincides precisely with heightened scrutiny of the facility.
“The timing is not coincidental,” Sanyaolu said. “For years, Tiger Base held people for months or years without charging them. Suddenly, within days of our campaign launching, they are rushing dozens of people through magistrate courts. This is not the rule of law; this is a performance designed to create the appearance of legal process while continuing systematic abuse.”
CAPTI also described as “particularly damning” the sudden arraignment of seven women who had been held at Tiger Base for between one and two years without trial. The women were arraigned on December 16, 2025, one day after CAPTI’s report was launched. According to the group, the cases expose what it called “the cynical manipulation of the justice system” and a long-standing practice of detaining women as leverage for alleged crimes of their male relatives. Among them is Nkechinyere Ogu, who has been detained since October 11, 2023, after visiting Tiger Base to negotiate bail for family members. CAPTI stated that despite paying ₦950,000 for her release, she has remained in detention for over 26 months without trial.
Another detainee, Chinenye Obi, was reportedly arrested with her one-year-nine-month-old son in October 2023 over allegations against her husband. CAPTI alleged that she was beaten and tortured, while her child was taken to an unknown location and has remained missing for over two years.
CAPTI further raised alarm over the separation of young children from detained mothers, describing the situation as enforced disappearance of minors.
At least five children, including an infant who was only two months old at the time of arrest, were reportedly taken from their mothers and moved to undisclosed locations. The mothers, according to CAPTI, have received no information about their children’s whereabouts, welfare, or even whether they are alive.
“The separation of infants and young children from their mothers, with no information provided about their location or welfare for years, constitutes enforced disappearance of minors,” Sanyaolu said. “Their mothers live with the daily agony of not knowing if their babies are alive, where they are, or if they will ever see them again.”
The statement also revealed additional cases of alleged extrajudicial killings not previously documented in CAPTI’s report. On February 26, 2025, CAPTI alleged that Tiger Base officers killed Ifeanyi Anayo, Kingsley Sunday, and Chibuikem Maduka, all of whom had been arrested months earlier. CAPTI further stated that a pregnant woman and two children arrested alongside them remain unaccounted for, with no record of their production in court or explanation from the police.
CAPTI accused Tiger Base of systematically arresting wives, mothers, sisters, and children of suspects when officers are unable to locate or pressure accused men. The group also alleged that long-term detainees are routinely hidden during oversight visits by human rights monitors.
According to the statement, officers allegedly warned detainees not to attract attention and concealed them whenever lawyers, journalists, or monitoring bodies visited the facility.
CAPTI also stated that the documented practices violate multiple provisions of Nigerian law, including the Constitution, the Anti-Torture Act, the Police Act, and the Child Rights Act, as well as several international human rights treaties ratified by Nigeria. The group called for immediate actions, including accounting for missing children, suspending implicated officers, investigating alleged killings, reviewing all Tiger Base cases, and halting what it described as retaliation arrests. Despite the campaign, CAPTI noted that Tiger Base continues operating under the same leadership, including officers previously named in allegations of torture and extrajudicial killings.
CAPTI said the #TigerBaseMustFall campaign would not be deterred by what it described as intimidation and cover-ups. “Tiger Base’s response to our campaign proves our point,” Sanyaolu said. “They cannot reform because they are not interested in reform. This is not a police unit; it is a criminal enterprise operating under state authority. It must be shut down.” The organisation said it has submitted documentation to multiple United Nations bodies, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, and the ECOWAS Court of Justice, while coordinating legal and psychosocial support for affected families. “Tiger Base must fall. The children must be found. The killings must stop. Justice must be served,” the statement concluded.
The full statement is available via the link below.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/182pHC8zVpX8hnkGDNcPbd-cxA7M62LGx/view?usp=drivesdk
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