Human rights lawyer, Inibehe Effiong, has accused the Lagos police of deliberately falsifying 17-year-old Quadri Alabi’s age to arraign him in court.
Effiong revealed this during a Channels Television interview on Monday, where he appeared alongside Alabi.
“If they had said he was 17, the court would have treated the matter differently—possibly not even remanding him in a regular prison,” he said.
Effiong also revealed that over N10m has been raised in four days for Alabi, who was allegedly wrongfully arrested and charged by the police.
The funds, according to Effiong, will be used to relocate Alabi from Amukoko and secure a source of income for his mother, a petty trader.
Alabi was arrested earlier this year and charged in connection with a street fight in the Amukoko area. However, Magistrate Adetola Olorunfemi later freed him based on legal advice from the Director of Public Prosecutions, Dr. Babajide Martins.
Effiong alleged that some police personnel subjected Alabi to an internal police trial as part of an “evil, sinister, oppressive, and corrupt scheme” orchestrated with support from rogue area boys.
He claimed that local area boys had been extorting Alabi, who gained fame after a photo of him went viral during a presidential campaign tour in 2023.
The area boys, according to Effiong, demanded that Alabi’s mother buy a cow, cook rice, and throw a feast for the community, which she refused to do.
Effiong said this was not the first time the area boys had targeted Alabi, and that they had eventually handed him over to the police, who charged him alongside four adult men he had never met before.
Alabi, recounting his experience, said he was arrested by the police after the area boys pointed him out. “I was just at the entrance of my house when the police came and arrested me. The area boys pointed me out. At the station, I was the youngest there. I was locked up with older men. They asked me what I did, and I said nothing,” he said.
Effiong described the support from Nigerians as “overwhelming,” saying it showed the strength of the Nigerian spirit.
