The Magistrate Court in Apapa has freed 17-year-old Alabi Quadri, three months after he was detained without trial for allegedly participating in an armed robbery.

Alabi gained national attention in 2023 after he was seen standing in front of the convoy of then-Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi. Quadri later received public goodwill and financial gifts, which reportedly led to resentment from some local youths.

According to human rights lawyer, Inibehe Effiong, who took up the case, Alabi was abducted by thugs in his neighbourhood and handed over to the police. He was later charged—alongside four strangers—with armed robbery involving ₦579,000 in cash and mobile phones.

“It came as a rude shock when the police took him before a Magistrate… alleging that he conspired with them to commit armed robbery with cutlasses,” Effiong said in an April 9 statement. Alabi has been held at the Kirikiri Minimum Security Custodial Centre since January 2025.

He appeared in court three times while awaiting legal advice from the Lagos State Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP). Magistrate Adetola Olorunfemi finally freed him after the DPP advised against continuing the case, citing lack of credible evidence. Effiong, who spent hours interviewing the minor, maintained that Alabi was innocent and had been wrongly targeted due to envy and abuse of the justice system.

The case sparked outrage over the treatment of minors in detention and renewed calls for reform in Nigeria’s criminal justice process.