A recent judgment of the Community Court of Justice, ECOWAS, has confirmed that the notorious Tiger Base facility in Owerri was a centre of torture, extortion and systemic human rights violations long before the Anti-Kidnapping Unit ever operated there. The ruling, delivered in Glory Okolie v. Federal Republic of Nigeria in 2024, dismantles claims that atrocities associated with the facility began only after the Anti-Kidnapping Unit took control.
The Court examined the detention of 21-year-old student Glory Okolie, who was arrested in June 2021 and held incommunicado by officers of the Inspector General of Police Intelligence Response Team (IRT) operating from Tiger Base. Her arrest, the Court found, was concealed from her family as officers repeatedly denied her existence while keeping her in unlawful custody.
Evidence presented before the Court detailed how Tiger Base functioned as a lawless detention centre where detainees were subjected to forced labour, extortion and sexual abuse. Testimonies revealed that Okolie was compelled to cook and wash for officers, repeatedly assaulted, denied access to medical care and lawyers, and held without communication with relatives. Her family faced continuous extortion under the guise of securing her release, even as she remained illegally detained.
The judgment established that these abuses occurred under the IRT, contradicting attempts to attribute Tiger Base’s violent culture exclusively to the Anti-Kidnapping Unit, which arrived later. According to the Court, the pattern of violations reflected a deeply entrenched institutional practice rather than the misconduct of a single police formation.
By affirming that Tiger Base had long been an epicentre of systemic brutality, the judgment challenges narratives that seek to shift responsibility to later units. It underscores that the Nigerian Police Force cannot address such abuses merely by disbanding or renaming units while leaving the same operational structures and personnel in place.
The decision also raises broader questions about accountability within the police hierarchy. The Court’s findings suggest that responsibility extends beyond individual officers to command structures that permitted or ignored widespread violations over several years.
The ruling strengthens calls for restitution and rehabilitation for victims detained at Tiger Base and for a comprehensive investigation into all officers who worked at or supervised the facility across different units. Human rights advocates argue that dismantling such sites of abuse is critical to rebuilding public trust and preventing recurring violations.
