HUMAN rights lawyer, Inibehe Effionge, on Monday, said over N10 million has so far been raised to support the 17-year-old minor, Quadri Alabi, who went viral during campaigns for the 2023 general elections when he stood in front of the convoy of a former Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi.
Effiong spoke when he appeared on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief monitored by News Point Nigeria.
“I can confirm to you that as of this morning, we’ve raised over N10 million in barely four days for Quadri. It re-energises our hope in the Nigerian spirit. Within the first two hours, we had raised over N3 million.
“In 2023, the donation that was given to him wasn’t even close to this, and you saw what they (the area boys) did to him,” he said.
The lawyer disclosed that the teenager and his family had been moved to a safe area, while efforts were underway to provide them with accommodation.
He said, “We’ve completely taken them out of that community; we’ve put them where it is safe. We’re working on getting fresh accommodation in a different place.
“The mother is a petty trader; she needs some financial support to stabilise, so part of that money will go to that, and then we may have to decide on whether to put the rest in a deposit for him, because the money was first for him.
“The point is to ensure that he is rehabilitated and he doesn’t go back to a place that will make him vulnerable to that kind of attack; that is the least we owe Quadri.
The Magistrates’ Court in Apapa on April 17 freed the minor following the legal advice of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Dr Babajide Martins.
The magistrate confirmed that the legal advice issued by the DPP 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 and another defendant, one Muiz Animashaun.
Quadri and Animashaun were standing trial alongside three others for the offence of armed robbery.
Alabi Quadri went viral for standing in front of the convoy of the 2023 Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi.
Effiong, who is counsel for Quadri, had called on the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, and the Inspector General of Police, to subject to an orderly room trial the DPO of Amukoko Divisional Headquarters and other officers who participated in what he called the “corrupt scheme of framing-up a teenager for armed robbery at the behest of rogue ‘Area Boys’”.
The lawyer also demanded the sum of N100m as compensation to his client, whom he said had been detained since January, 2025.
The police had explained that Quadri was arrested and charged in court after being linked to a violent street fight in the Amukoko area of Lagos earlier this year, but the minor’s counsel dismissed the allegation as mischief.
“Are the police saying that they know his age better than his mother? It is just an act of mischief. The statement of the police is embarrassing; it is despicable. They should tell the police what is going on,” Effiong added.