Seventeen-year-old Quadri Alabi, who gained widespread attention during the 2023 general election campaigns for standing in front of the convoy of former Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi, has recounted his experience while in detention.
Alabi shared his story during an appearance with his lawyer, Inibehe Effiong, on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief on Monday. He expressed sorrow over being treated like an orphan and being compelled to carry human waste while in prison.
“They treated me like an orphan. I was forced to carry faeces every day because I did not have the money to secure my release,” he said.
Alabi explained that his ordeal started when some hoodlums in his community demanded a share of the donation he received after his photo went viral.
“When it happened, some people told my mum that the money that was given to me should be divided into two, or I would be kidnapped.
“When my mum asked them what they wanted, they told her to share the money, but she said that was not possible and asked them whether they would have been talking about sharing the money if I had been shot while in front of the convoy,” he said.
Speaking further, he said he was whisked away by the hoodlums on his way home from work.
“Since then, they have had a grudge against me. So, when I was returning from work – I am a motor boy; I help my boss convey fish to Port Harcourt – and receiving my payment from my boss, I didn’t know that some boys had fought in the area.
“As I was about to open the gate of the compound where I live and enter, the boys just came and held me, handed me to the police, and told the police to lock me up in a cell.
“I don’t know the people I met in the cell. I was the youngest among the four people there. I was accused of destroying public property and stealing a phone, but I said I didn’t do any of those; they (area boys) even took my phone and money.”
While thanking Nigerians for supporting him, the teenager said he would like to learn a skill and be educated.
“I would like to learn a skill so I can become better. I want to go to school and live in the school because some people are stalking me,” he added.
The Magistrates’ Court in Apapa on April 17 freed the minor following the legal advice of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Dr Babajide Martins.
The magistrate confirmed that the legal advice issued by the DPP 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 and another defendant, one Muiz Animashaun.
Quadri and Animashaun were standing trial alongside three others for the offence of armed robbery.
Effiong, who is counsel for Quadri, had called on the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, and the Inspector General of Police, to subject to an orderly room trial the DPO of Amukoko Divisional Headquarters and other officers who participated in what he called the “corrupt scheme of framing-up a teenager for armed robbery at the behest of rogue ‘Area Boys’”.
The lawyer also demanded the sum of N100m as compensation to his client, whom he said had been detained since January, 2025.
The police had explained that Quadri was arrested and charged in court after being linked to a violent street fight in the Amukoko area of Lagos earlier this year, but the minor’s counsel dismissed the allegation as mischief.
“Are the police saying that they know his age better than his mother? It is just an act of mischief. The statement of the police is embarrassing; it is despicable. They should tell the police what is going on,” Effiong said.
“How can they still be talking about a matter for which the DPP has exonerated him? For the police to still issue this slanderous statement, despite the exoneration by the DPP, despite an order of discharge by a court of competent jurisdiction, should tell Nigerians about the level of decadence in the police, and we’re going to take them on this; they will not get away,” the lawyer added.