Melody Eberechi Anyanwu miscarried her four-month pregnancy after operatives of ‘Tiger Base’, an anti-kidnapping unit of the Imo police command, allegedly stomped on her stomach while trying to force her to reveal the whereabouts of her boyfriend, a suspected member of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra, according to a human rights report.

“During interrogation, Melody was severely beaten, including officers stomping on her pregnant stomach. The assault caused her to begin bleeding, and she lost her pregnancy,” said a report by the Coalition Against Tiger Base Impunity released on Monday. The report chronicled harrowing instances of alleged police brutality and extrajudicial killings.

Outraged by their ineptitude in locating the suspect, Ms Anyanwu said she and her 62-year-old father were made to bear the brunt of the officers’ failure.

Ms Anyanwu, 21, was picked up at Emii, Owerri North LGA in Imo on May 17, 2021. Her father, Mr Anyanwu, insisted on following his daughter to the station to understand the nature of her alleged offence after officers failed to disclose her so-called crime. But he was also detained in the process.

“At Tiger Base, they were both tortured and detained in separate cells. Melody could hear her father crying in the night,” stated CAPTI.

The 21-year-old said she was beaten and her stomach was stomped by several officers till she began to bleed. She eventually lost the pregnancy while her father died in custody, five days after his arrest. Ms Anyanwu said she lost consciousness after watching Tiger Base officers carry out the lifeless body of her father.

“She heard a fellow detainee calling out to the police to come and remove a dead body. She only realised it was her father when she saw the police removing the corpse. Upon recognising her father’s body, she passed out,” stated the CAPTI report.

The police, according to CAPTI, transferred Ms Anyanwu to Abuja in July 2021 and continued to hold her hostage without charge. The officers forced her to travel by road while bleeding, given she had not been fully treated for the miscarriage.

From the Intelligence Response Team, she was moved to Suleja Prison without being formally charged and appearing in court on September 10, 2021.

“When Intelligence Response Team officers began receiving calls about how Melody had been smuggled to prison without first appearing in court, they started demanding money before she would be released from  prison. She was released from Suleja Prison in November 2021, six months after her arrest,” the report stated.

Ms Anyanwu’s case is one of hundreds of alleged incidents of police brutality and extrajudicial killings documented by CAPTI, which said abuses intensified after CSP Oladimeji Adeyeyiwa assumed command of Tiger Base in 2021.

Despite repeated complaints, CAPTI said the police dismissed allegations against Mr Adeyeyiwa, promoted him to Assistant Commissioner of Police and awarded him “Best Crime Buster of the Year 2024”.

“Amid loud protests against Tiger Base activities, police authorities promoted Oladimeji Adeyeyiwa, the commander of Tiger Base, to the position of assistant commissioner of police. In June 2025, police awarded him the honour of ‘Best Crime Buster of the Year 2024’,” stated the CAPTI report.

The police command did not immediately return comments on CAPTI’s report.