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9 hours ago
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The family said they learnt that Ejiogu was seriously tortured to death by officers of the Anti-Kidnapping Squad headed by an Assistant Commissioner of Police, identified as ACP Ola.
The family of Mr. Magnus Ejiogu of Obudi Agwa community in Oguta Local Government Area of Imo State, has accused the Anti-Kidnapping Squad (Tiger Base) of the Imo State Police Command of killing Ejiogu while in custody after he was arrested for a crime the family said he knew nothing about.
According to Ejiogu’s family, he was arrested at a control post, Owerri, on September 23, 2025, and detained by the Anti-Kidnapping Squad (Tiger Base), Owerri, without access to his family and lawyers until October 27, when the family said they learnt that Ejiogu had died.
The family said they learnt that Ejiogu was seriously tortured to death by officers of the Anti-Kidnapping Squad headed by an Assistant Commissioner of Police, identified as ACP Ola.
According to the family, after Ejiogu was arrested, the ACP assigned Inspector Chidiebere Nwosu as the Investigating Police Officer (IPO) in respect of the case.
However, throughout the period Ejiogu was in police detention, “the Anti-Kidnapping Squad (Tiger Base), Owerri, did not allow anybody to visit him, including his family members and his lawyers,” according to a family source.
Meanwhile, a source from the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), who also spoke with SaharaReporters on the condition of anonymity, said the commission had written to the Inspector General of Police, complaining of the torture of Ejiogu by the police officers and the inability of his family and lawyers to access him.
In the letter dated September 27, 2025, and received by the office of the Inspector of Police on September 29, 2025, the NHRC explained the torture Ejiogu was subjected to in the police detention.
The commission, which noted that Ejiogu knows nothing about the alleged murder of a traditional ruler for which he was arrested, also demanded that he be allowed access to his family and lawyers, and his release.
According to the NHRC’s letter, Ejiogu’s wife said that her husband went missing for 4 days before they found out that “he was abducted in a commando way by Police officers from Tiger Base on the instruction of one Barrister Blaise Chigozie Ikpo.”
“Accordingly, the family sent a lawyer to the Tiger Base to investigate what transpired and why he was arrested, the Investigating Police Officer (IPO) declined to allow the lawyer to see Mr Magnus Ejiogu in detention thereby raising our fear that he may have subjected to torture and possibly they may force him to make a statement against his wish, breaching the Administration of Criminal justice Law and violation of Section 34 1(a & b) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended),” the letter added.
TORTURE AND UNLAWFUL DEATH OF MAGNUS.pdf
The commission called on the IGP to take over the investigation and direct the transfer of the case to Abuja for a thorough and unbiased investigation.
Ejiogu’s family member said, “Notwithstanding this, access was still not granted to members of his family, and neither was he charged in Court.”
A source from the NHRC told SaharaReporters that the Commission received a similar petition against the unlawful prosecution of Ejiogu and four others in 2022.
However, after a visit to FCID in Abuja, the DPP gave their advice to the Oguta High Court in Imo State, and the case was struck out.
“The available information suggests that the same Barrister Blaise Chigozie Ikpo bribed IPO Chidiebere Nwosu to confess that Magnus Ejiogu was a kidnapper and member of unknown gunmen terrorising Obudi Agwa with the intention to get him killed to make up for what he could not get through the court of competent jurisdiction,” the source said.
The NHRC source told SaharaReporters that rather than granting Ejiogu access to his family members and lawyers, the Police went public and published a story that they have completed the investigation in his matter, yet he was neither released nor charged in court.
“Our suspicion that he has been killed in custody is very strong based on the fact that as of today, Mr. Magnus Ejiogu has not been charged in court, nor has anyone, including his family members, been granted access to see him or give him food,” the NHRC source said.
“This conduct is undesirable and highly suspicious. The Nigeria Police Force should be a law-abiding organization subject to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended),” the source added.
According to the NHRC source, the commission sent its official to the Tiger Base Station of the Imo State Police Command, where “the official told the Officer-in-Charge of Tiger Base that Magnus is innocent but Eze’s people have been trying to rope him into a trumped-up case.
“The official from the Commission told the police to release him, but the IPO, Inspector Chidiebere Nwosu, was torturing him in detention because the police were paid by Barrister Blaise Ikpo,” the source said.
According to the source, the IGP approved the commission’s petition for the transfer of the case to Abuja, deployed police officers to Imo State Police Command, Owerri, to retrieve the case file to Abuja.
However, “The Officer-in-Charge ran away from his office, later wrote to Abuja and published in the media that the killers of the traditional ruler have been arrested. He did that just to massage his ego and defend himself. Unfortunately, they killed Magnus in their detention.”
SaharaReporters contacted the Officer-in-Charge of the Anti-Kidnapping Squad, Tiger Base of the Imo State Police Command, ACP Ola, for reaction to the conspiracy and murder allegation and explanation of the arrest and detention of Ejiogu.
However, the police officer, who is at the center of the matter, did not answer several calls made to his mobile phone number nor respond to a WhatsApp message sent to him till the time of filing this report.
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