Sopuluchi ThankGod Emeka, a fresh graduate of the Niger Delta died in Tiger Base

On August 3, Sopuluchi ThankGod Emeka, a fresh graduate of the Niger Delta Innovative Institute, Umuaka, was arrested by officers of Umuaka Police Station in Njaba local government area of Imo State.
The next day, he would be transferred to the Anti-Kidnapping Unit of the Imo State Police Command, popularly known as Tiger Base, and would die there under mysterious circumstances.

Emeka Ujunwa, his father, told FIJ on Friday evening that his son was initially locked up at Umuaka police station following a minor argument with someone he described as ‘a lady who stays’ at the station.
He explained that the argument prompted the lockup, and by the time he went there the next day, a Monday, the officers told him that his son had been transferred to Tiger Base in Owerri.

“I was shocked to learn that he had been transferred to Owerri when I tried to visit him the following day,” Ujunwa told FIJ.
“I then asked where in the state capital he was taken to, but one of the female police officers I met at the counter asked me to return by 4 pm. She promised to tell me by then.
“I returned at 4 pm as demanded, and that was when they opened up to me that he had been transferred to Tiger Base.”
Ujunwa told FIJ that the next day, he sent his lawyer to Tiger Base to enquire about the reason for Thank God’s transfer.

“When the lawyer got there, he called to tell me he had seen my son, but the boy wasn’t allowed to see him, and that we would go there together on Wednesday, August 6.”
The deceased’s father said he later got a call stating that his son was ill, and by the time he visited with his lawyer, he was told his son had died.
“When I got to Tiger Base with my lawyer, they claimed my son killed himself. They told me he used his hands to kill himself. I then asked how it happened and inquired about his personal effects, but they said I should not bring it up again.”

Besides telling him his son had died mysteriously, officers of the Tiger Base unit have also denied Ujunwa access to his son’s body for burial, including all the money and personal effects he was arrested with.
“I have also not seen him. They refused to allow me to set eyes on him. All his phones and cards. Meanwhile, his mother’s money is in the account, and they have refused to allow us access to it.
“I didn’t have anything to fight against them. I know God is alive for me.”
Ujunwa noted that he has been unable to get over the death of Thank God, his second son. He explained that he has simply been managing himself.

He said, “They carried him on Sunday and by Wednesday, they claimed he had died.”
When FIJ first called Henry Okoye on Saturday afternoon, he didn’t take his calls. Our reporter then immediately sent him a WhatsApp message.
FIJ placed more calls hours later, and he said he would forward our WhatsApp message to the Tiger Base Unit for inquiries on the case.

“I will forward the WhatsApp message you sent to the unit and revert,” he told FIJ.
On Sunday morning, Okoye sent another update asking for the family to be referred to him directly.
“Thank you very much for bringing this to the notice of the Imo State Police Command. Please refer the family to me so we can commence investigation,” Okoye replied.