A former Chairperson of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission aa(NERC), Sam Amadi, has asked the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun, to disband Tiger Base, a police anti-kidnapping unit in Imo State, over alleged involvement in extortion and extrajudicial killings in the state.
Mr Amadi, in a video clip uploaded on his Facebook page on Thursday, also appealed to Governor Hope Uzodimma of Imo to help disband the police unit in the state.
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The former NERC chairperson, who is currently the director of the Abuja School of Social and Political Thought, said there have been several allegations of extrajudicial killings by operatives from the police unit.
He said the Nigerian Human Rights Commission and other watchdog agencies have repeatedly documented cases of extortions and extrajudicial killings of residents by the personnel of the police unit.
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“I want to appeal to Governor Hope Uzodimma. Can you please end the Tiger Base? First, there was no basis for building a police station into a government annex,” he said.
Mr Amadi narrated how operatives from the police unit recently stormed a community involved in a land dispute and shot a man who afterwards spent a long time in a hospital for treatment.
“There are many cases in which police officers under the Tiger Base have terrorised residents of Imo State. Mr Governor, this is obviously not what you intended.
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“To the IG of police, why should there be a Tiger Base police unit that is not accountable within the normal police structure?” he said.
The former NERC chairperson argued that the criminality and terror attacks in Imo State began in the South-eastern state because of the “high-handedness” of the Tiger Base operatives.
“It is also because governors and state officials cared less about how their citizens are being destroyed either by the so-called herdsmen or criminals or police,” he claimed.
Police speak on allegations
The police authorities in Imo State have denied allegations of extrajudicial killings and extortion by operatives of the anti-kidnapping unit.
PREMIUM TIMES obtained a video clip which showed the police spokesperson in the state, Henry Okoye, conducting reporters and civil society organisations around the facility on Thursday.
Mr Okoye, a deputy superintendent of police, claimed the allegations were false.
“It is a misinformation circulated by mischief makers to undermine the efforts by our gallant operatives,” Mr Okoye said of the allegations.
The spokesperson asked residents who have evidence of such extrajudicial killings, extortion and torture to submit them to the Police Complaint Response Unit or the Police Public Relations Unit for action.
He also denied allegations that some of the operatives were involved in harvesting organs of extrajudicially executed suspects.
“There are CCTV cameras that monitor everything going on in this place and the commissioner of police gets this report directly from his office.
“So, if there’s anything like slaughtering of humans or organ harvesting, there’s no way the commissioner of police will not know,” he said.
On his part, the Officer-in-Charge of the police unit, Oladimeji Odeyeyiwa, claimed that operatives from the unit do not handle civil matters.
“The major cases we handle are purely kidnapping, terrorism, murder and armed robbery,” Mr Odeyeyiwa, a chief superintendent of police, said.
He also claimed that operatives from the police unit do not torture arrested suspects.
Extrajudicial killing, torture and human right violations
For years, operatives from the Tiger Base have been accused of engaging in torture of suspects, illegal detention, human rights violations and extrajudicial killings.
Calls for the disbandment of the police unit gained fresh momentum recently after demand for justice by the family of an entrepreneur, Levi Opara, who died under controversial circumstances while in custody at the unit.
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Mr Opara, 46-year-old indigene of Owerri North LGA in Imo State, was arrested on 15 October 2023 following a “domestic misunderstanding” between him and his wife.
The father of five was confirmed dead by the police unit three days after his arrest.
The police authorities initially claimed the man fell ill in detention and died on his way to a police clinic, but autopsy results later reportedly showed he was stabbed to death.
This, it was gathered, triggered a petition to the IGP by the family which prompted the arrest and investigation of the operatives involved in the alleged murder.
But the family said that although the matter was transferred to Zone 9, Umuahia, Abia State in 2024, the arraignment of the officers allegedly involved has been delayed.
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