The Magistrates’ Court in Apapa has freed the 17-year-old minor, Alabi Quadri, who went viral ahead of the 2023 general elections for standing in front of the convoy of a former Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi.
Magistrate Adetola Olorunfemi freed him 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.
The DPP in his advice, however, recommended that a prima facie case had been made against the other three defendants and they should proceed to stand trial.
At the time of this report, lawyers and family members of those freed were still waiting for the conclusion of other formalities and documentation which would enable the magistrate sign the warrant releasing Quadri to his parents.
In an interview with journalists after the courts sitting, counsel for Quadri, Inibehe Effiong, commended the DPP for standing by the truth in this matter.
He also demanded 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 what he called the “evil, sinister, oppressive, and corrupt scheme of framing-up a teenager for armed robbery at the behest of rogue ‘Area Boys’”.
The lawyer also demand that the Nigeria Police Force should pay the sum of One Hundred Million Naira (₦100m) to his client as compensation and they should also tender a public apology.
Inibehe said if the above three remedial demands were not fully complied with immediately, he and the team of lawyers would initiate legal actions to seek redress.
For him, Quadri’s case is a painful example of the putrefying corruption, monstrous impunity, and pervasive injustice in the Nigeria Police Force.
“There are many Quadris languishing in detention centres across Nigeria because of the unbridled criminality, lawlessness, and lack of accountability in the Police institution and the weakness of the justice system. History will vindicate the just,” Inibehe said.
