Human rights lawyer and activist, Inibehe Effiong, on Thursday, asked the Nigerian Police Force to pay ₦100 million as compensation to Alabi Quadri.
Quadri is a 17-year-old minor who went viral ahead of the 2023 general elections for standing in front of the convoy of former Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi.
The minor had spent months in Kirikiri prison after been arrested for armed robbery, an offence his family vehemently rejected.
He was however, freed on Thursday by Magistrate Adetola Olorunfemi, following the legal advice of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Dr. Babajide Martins.
Briefing journalists after the ruling in the Apapa area of Lagos, 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 Divisional Police Officer 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 demanded that the police authorities should tender a public apology to his client.
Inibehe said if the above three remedial demands are not fully complied with immediately, he and the team of lawyers will 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.
