The Apapa Magistrate Court has discharged and acquitted Alabi Quadri, the boy who gained popularity during the 2023 general elections after standing in front of the campaign convoy of then-Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi.
Sitting at Court 9, Sikiru Adagun Courthouse in Orege, Ajegunle, the court on Thursday ruled that Quadri had no case to answer regarding charges of conspiracy to commit felony and armed robbery.
Quadri spent months in detention at the Kirikiri Correctional Centre in Lagos.
He was brought to court on April 17, 2025, amid tight security. Although the hearing was initially scheduled for April 28, the appearance was brought forward following a request jointly made by human rights lawyer Inibehe Effiong and the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), a move the court approved.
However, his rising public profile reportedly led to envy and resentment within his local community. According to his lawyer, Quadri’s subsequent arrest and detention stemmed not from any criminal act, but from vendettas carried by two “area boys” notoriously known in the community as Lege and Baba Waris, who believed they were entitled to share in the financial and social goodwill that followed his popularity.
Quadri was returning from work when he was grabbed by the duo, dumped at the Amukoko Divisional Police Headquarters (Pako Police Station) in Lagos State.
The abductors initially told the officers at Amukoko Police Station that Quadri 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 Quadri, the officers at Amukoko Police Station also misrepresented his age to be 18, knowing that disclosing his actual age would likely raise eyebrows .
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.
Meanwhile, Quadri lead counsel, Inibehe Effiong is demanding 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’.
Also demands that the Nigeria Police Force should pay the sum of One Hundred Million Naira (N100,000,000.00) to his client as compensation.
Also, a public apology from the police while commending the DPP for standing by the truth in this matter.
