By Ibanga Isine
LAGOS, Nigeria – On a warm February morning in 2023, as the streets of Lagos erupted in political fever ahead of Nigeria’s presidential elections, an unidentified teenager jumped across the road and stood firmly in front of a convoy.
The man in the lead vehicle was Peter Obi, the Labour Party’s presidential candidate. It was 17-year-old Quadri Yusuf Alabi.
It was a moment that captivated the attention of the nation. Quadri stopped traffic, arms outstretched, eyes filled with conviction, and etched himself into the political drama of that election season. Videos of his unusual encounter flooded social media.
Instantly, donations poured in, followed by interviews with big and small media organisations. Quadri had become an instant celebrity. For a little while, it appeared that the young man from Amukoko, a densely populated and often neglected Lagos slum, had become a symbol of hope. A champion of sort.
While he was basking in the attention, applause and headlines, his neighbours were oozing with jealousy. They could not believe that the “small” boy who lives among them could get that kind of national attention. And the money.
Months later, that same teenager was imprisoned in the Kirikiri Medium Security Custodial Centre on frivolous allegations of street fighting and armed robbery.
Quadri was finally released on Wednesday, April 17, 2025, after a Lagos court ruled that there was insufficient evidence to support the charges against him.
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His release closed a painful chapter, but the events that led him to prison are pointers to bigger issues about power, impunity, and the cost of visibility in Nigeria.
From Fame to Fear
In the wake of his viral moment with Mr. Peter Obi, Quadri’s life changed. This time, it was not for the better. His friends turned cold. Strangers became aggressive. And in the dark streets of Amukoko, what started as whispers turned to threats.
Local boys, known in the community as Area Boys, started demanding a cut of the support Quadri had received after his momentary rise to fame.
The touts who know no creed and obey no law insisted that Quadri owed them for becoming popular and demanded that he must buy them drinks, throw parties, and share the money.
When Quadri refused, the threats intensified. On January 25, 2025, as he returned home from work, two well-known thugs from his neighbourhood, Lege and Baba Waris, seized him near his family compound.
They dragged him to the Amukoko Divisional Police Headquarters, where officers were told that Quadri had been involved in a street fight. The officers took him in. Within hours, the allegation changed.
By the next day, Quadri was standing before a Magistrate in Apapa, charged with armed robbery and remanded in Kirikiri prison.
The Police claimed he had conspired with four adult suspects, none of whom he had ever met. Officers at the Amukoko Divisional Police Headquarters also altered his age, listing him as 18 to strip him of the legal protections afforded to minors.
For the next two and a half months, the teenager endured the harsh conditions of prison life. Cut off from his family, surrounded by adult inmates, he struggled to understand what had happened.
“They just wanted to teach him a lesson for being seen,” said one of his lawyers, Inibehe Effiong. “It was an exercise in humiliation.”
A Trace of Light
The case might have remained buried if not for the intervention of Ray of Hope Prison Outreach, a non-profit that monitors juvenile and wrongful detentions. Co-founder Hassana Nurudeen brought the matter to public attention and connected Quadri’s distraught mother with legal counsel.
The legal team quickly uncovered glaring inconsistencies. No evidence linked Quadri to the alleged robbery. No formal identification had been carried out. The “co-defendants” were complete strangers. The Director of Public Prosecutions, Babajide Martins, found no merit in the case, after studying the file.
At the Apapa Magistrate Court on April 17, Magistrate A.O. Olorunfemi read the DPP’s advice aloud. With no basis for prosecution, the charges were struck out.
Quadri was ordered to be released immediately. Inside the courtroom, his mother wept. Outside, rights advocates vowed to pursue justice beyond the discharge.
Demands for Accountability
Quadri’s lawyers have called for sweeping action, including the immediate removal and prosecution of the Divisional Police Officer at Amukoko, the Investigating Police Officer, identified as Inspector Odigbe Samuel, and all others involved in what they describe as a “sinister and corrupt scheme.”
Quadri Alabi, united with his lawyer, Inibehe Effiong, at the Magistrate Court, Lagos, on Thursday
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Speaking shortly after Quadri was freed, Inibehe said, “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 demand a public apology from the police.
“If the above three remedial demands are not fully complied with immediately, we shall initiate legal actions to seek redress. Quadri’s case is a painful example of the putrefying corruption, monstrous impunity, and pervasive injustice in the Nigerian Police Force.
“Many Quadris are 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.”
The Nigerian Police has yet to comment officially on the matter.
