17 year old Quadri Alabi has regained freedom from kirikiri. This was revealed in a post on Thursday by Public Interest and Human Rights lawyer, Inihebe Effiong.
Effiong has demanded that the illegally abducted teenager should be compensated, publicly apologized to by the police and immediate removal of Amukoko Divisional Headquarters’ DPO, due to the unaccountability of the police institution and failure to comply will result in legal action against the unit.
“We demand that the Commissioner of Police, Lagos State Command, and the Inspector General of Police, should as a matter of urgency, remove the DPO of Amukoko Divisional Headquarters and subject him to orderly room trial along with the IPO, one Inspector Odigbe Samuel, and other officers who participated in this evil, sinister, oppressive, and corrupt scheme of framing-up a teenager for armed robbery at the behest of rogue ‘Area Boys’.
“We demand that the Nigeria Police Force should pay the sum of One Hundred Million Naira (N100,000,000.00) to our client as compensation.
“Also, we also demand a public apology from the police.” The Human Rights lawyer added
Alabi is the teenager in the 2023 Peter Obi iconic photo during presidential campaign in Lagos state was abducted on his back from work and handed over to the police by street hoodlum for failure to share with them the cash gift received that year.
Recall that TheSubstance News reported that an activist, Ms. Hassana Nurudeen, the Co-founder of Ray of Hope Prison Outreach had disclosed the injustice melted at the minor by the police command, thus bringing his case to the social media and involving the Human Rights Activist lawyer when it was going above her head.
Ms. Nurudeen had reported that the seventeen-year-old was alleged to have been a thief and was handed over to the police who didn’t make any findings before locking him up and was twice arraigned before a judge and she was present on those occasion alongside the victim’s mother.
The Human Rights lawyer who eventually took the case up confirmed the incidence after going to Kirikiri to visit Alabi and discovered that he has been there since January.
Effiong jubilatory post read: “Our client, Quadri was abducted by two ‘Area Boys’ who are notoriously known in the community as Lege and Baba Waris close to his family residence at Amukoko, Ajeromi-Ifelodun Local Government Area and dumped at the Amukoko Divisional Police Headquarters (Pako Police Station) in Lagos State.
“Quadri was returning from work when he was grabbed by the duo, who along with other jealous and entitled Area Boys in the community, have been harassing him and threatening to deal with him since 2023 for not giving them ‘their share’ of donations gifted him during the last elections period.
“Quadri’s family informed us that the Baale of the community equally pressured them to buy a cow and rice and cook for the community to appease the Area Boys.
“The abductors initially told the officers at Amukoko Police Station that our client was involved in street fighting.
“To the consternation of Quadri and his family, the police on 26th January, 2025 took Quadri before a Magistrate in Apapa, and obtained an order remanding him at the Medium Security Custodial Centre, Kirikiri on a trumped-up charge of armed robbery.
“The police fraudulently joined Quadri with four strange adults who had no form of connection or relationship whatsoever with him and claimed that the four strange men were his case mates.
“As part of the diabolical frame-up of our client, the officers at Amukoko Police Station also misrepresented his age to be 18, knowing that disclosing his actual age would likely raise eyebrows.” Effiong narrated.
He continued: “At the Court today, the presiding Magistrate, His Honour, A. O. Olorunfemi (Mrs.), confirmed that the legal advice issued by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), of the Ministry of Justice, Lagos State, Dr. Babajide Martins showed that there was no evidence to substantiate the allegation of armed robbery against Quadri. In his Legal Advice, the DPP recommended the non-prosecution of Quadri.
“Thus, the presiding Magistrate discharged him and he was accordingly freed.”
By: Adeoye Olorunseun Elizabeth
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