Quadri Alabi, the 17-year-old boy who captured national attention after a photo of him standing in front of Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi’s convoy went viral during the 2023 campaign, has opened up about a harrowing experience of being detained and made to clean faeces all day at the Kirikiri Correctional Centre in Lagos.
Speaking on Channels Television’s ‘The Morning Brief’ on Monday, Alabi revealed how his trouble started.
He told his story from the beginning: “Since the viral campaign picture surfaced, it seems like some people have been keeping a close watch on me.
“Someone even threatened my mum, saying that the money they have given me would be split in two, or else she wouldn’t see me again.
“They warned that they would kidnap me and take me somewhere.
“She couldn’t even use the money.
“On the day I returned from work as a motor boy, I had no idea that a fight had broken out in the area and that the police had already surrounded it.
“As I approached our house, some area boys grabbed me and handed me over to another, instructing them to take me to their station.
“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.
“Before the arrest, the area boys had already taken my phone and the money in my pocket.
“In Kirikiri, my daily task was to clean up faeces from morning until six in the evening because I couldn’t afford to pay the marshall.”
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