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The Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre (RULAAC)has welcomed the findings and recommendations of the Chief Magistrate’s Court, Owerri, sitting as Coroner, in the inquest into the death of 32-year-old Japheth Njoku while in police custody at the Anti-Kidnapping Unit, popularly known as Tiger Base, Owerri, Imo State
Okechukwu Nwanguma, the
Executive Director of RULAAC disclosed this in a statement forwarded to CrimeFacts on Thursday.
According to Nwanguma, the findings vindicate the persistent efforts of Njoku’s family, their lawyer, Dr Christian C. Nwadigo, human rights organisations and other concerned citizens who refused to allow his death in police custody to be buried without an independent judicial inquiry.
“The Coroner, Chief Magistrate E. U. Chinaka, found that Njoku was detained for about six weeks over an allegation of stealing, a bailable offence, and that demands for money contributed to his continued detention.
” The court rejected the attempt to justify his prolonged detention by portraying him as a terrorist and found that the explanation had been concocted to justify prolonged detention and extortion.”
“Significantly, the Coroner found that conditions at the Anti-Kidnapping Unit violated detainees’ rights to dignity, personal liberty, legal representation and bail, and described a system characterised by torture, intimidation and extortion. The court further found that Njoku’s prolonged detention and the inhuman conditions in which he was held contributed to the deterioration of his health and eventual death.
“The Coroner recommended, among other measures, the prosecution of Inspector Barnabas and ACP Oladimeji Odeyeyiwa for alleged extortion and corruption; the transfer of officers serving at the Anti-Kidnapping Unit; installation and effective monitoring of CCTV cameras in police detention facilities; improved training of investigating police officers on lawful detention; payment of adequate compensation to Njoku’s family; and that the Anti-Kidnapping Unit bear the cost of his burial. The recommendations are to be implemented within three months.“
Attempts to frustrate the autopsy and inquest must not be forgotten
RULAAC recalled with particular concern that the eventual conclusion of this inquest came only after months of resistance, delay and reported attempts to frustrate the court-ordered autopsy and intimidate material witnesses.
On June 11, 2025, the Coroner ordered that an autopsy be conducted between June 16 and June 28, under the supervision of the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions of the Imo State Ministry of Justice, with provision for an independent pathologist chosen by the family to observe the examination. The court also summoned Inspector Barnabas, ACP Oladimeji and other material witnesses and directed the Commissioner of Police to ensure compliance. Yet the summoned police officers and others failed to appear at the proceedings on June 11.
According to reports and information provided by Dr Christian C. Nwadigo, counsel to the Njoku family, the difficulties did not end there. The autopsy was repeatedly delayed. RULAAC and the People’s Rights Organisation subsequently petitioned the Police Service Commission alleging that police officers had failed to make the body available for scheduled autopsies, including on October 28 and October 30, 2025, notwithstanding repeated extensions granted by the court.
This account has since received significant independent corroboration. In its 2026 report on Tiger Base, Amnesty International stated that Tiger Base officials repeatedly obstructed the Coroner-ordered autopsy and failed to appear for the examination on three separate occasions despite the presence of court-appointed pathologists.
RULAAC also raised concerns during the inquest that persons who had been detained alongside Njoku and were potential witnesses were being subjected to fresh investigations, threats of arraignment and allegations of receiving stolen goods. On August 22, 2025, the family reportedly raised the harassment of witnesses at a meeting convened by the Deputy Commissioner of Police, SCID, Owerri. Yet some of the witnesses were subsequently detained for several hours and threatened with arraignment.
These events require investigation in their own right. Attempts by law-enforcement officers to obstruct a judicially ordered autopsy, intimidate material witnesses or frustrate a Coroner’s inquest into a death occurring in police custody strike at the heart of the administration of justice and the rule of law. This cannot end with the Coroner’s report
*The Coroner’s findings must now be implemented.*
RULAAC therefore calls on the Attorney-General of Imo State to act promptly on the recommendation for prosecution. The prosecutorial review should not be artificially restricted to extortion and corruption. The entire record of the inquest should be examined to determine whether the evidence discloses additional offences under the Anti-Torture Act 2017 and other applicable criminal laws.
RULAAC further calls on the Inspector-General of Police and the Police Service Commission to institute an independent investigation into the attempts to frustrate the autopsy and Coroner’s proceedings, including identifying every officer who failed to comply with court orders, impeded access to Njoku’s body, participated in the alleged intimidation of witnesses or otherwise attempted to obstruct the inquest.
The Police Service Commission should also commence appropriate disciplinary proceedings against any officer found to have engaged in misconduct.
*Tiger Base requires an institutional investigation*
Most importantly, the findings cannot reasonably be treated as merely the misconduct of one or two individual officers.
For years, victims, families, lawyers and civil society organisations have reported allegations of prolonged detention, torture, extortion, denial of access to lawyers and relatives, disappearances and deaths in custody at Tiger Base. The Njoku inquest has now subjected aspects of those allegations to judicial scrutiny and produced deeply troubling findings.
The Coroner itself recommended the transfer of all officers serving in the Anti-Kidnapping Unit, citing evidence concerning overcrowding and collection of money in connection with police bail.
RULAAC therefore renews its call for an independent institutional audit of Tiger Base, covering:
– all deaths in custody and allegations of disappearance over a defined period;
– custody and arrest registers and compliance with statutory detention limits;
– allegations of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment;
– demands for money for bail and release of detainees;
– access of detainees to lawyers, relatives and medical care;
– the handling and preservation of CCTV footage and other custody records; and
– complaints previously made against officers of the unit and what action was taken on them.
The death of Japheth Njoku demonstrates why deaths in police custody must never be left for the police formation implicated in the death to investigate exclusively.
A person taken into police custody is placed under the protection and control of the State. The State therefore assumes a heightened responsibility for that person’s life, physical integrity and health.
Japheth Njoku entered Tiger Base alive. He did not leave alive.
His family then had to fight for months simply to secure an autopsy and judicial determination of how he died.
Justice will not be complete merely because the Coroner has spoken. Justice requires prosecution where criminal responsibility is established, disciplinary accountability, compensation and reparation for the family, implementation of the Coroner’s institutional recommendations, and reforms capable of ensuring that no other family is forced to wage the same struggle for the truth about a loved one who entered police custody alive.
RULAAC calls on the Attorney-General of Imo State, the Inspector-General of Police, the Police Service Commission and the Commissioner of Police, Imo State Command, to publicly state the steps they are taking to implement the Coroner’s recommendations within the stipulated three-month period.
