Lagos Justice Ministry Clarifies Teenager, Adult Were Charged With Armed Robbery

Reported by Ariajegbe Sylvia Esezobor 

The Lagos State Ministry of Justice has moved to correct what it described as a misleading online report suggesting that two defendants were detained over a pair of slippers, clarifying that they were actually charged and prosecuted for conspiracy to commit robbery and armed robbery under Sections 299 and 297(2) of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015, following allegations that they were among a group that robbed a man of his phone and gold chain.

In a rejoinder issued on Friday by the Director of Public Prosecutions, Adebayo Haroun, the ministry said the case, bearing charge number ID/22014C/23, was initially assigned to Justice Adenike Coker of the Ikeja High Court after the information was filed on May 31, 2023, but was later transferred to Justice Hakeem Oshodi in October 2025 following Coker's national assignment. The defendants' pleas were taken on October 13, 2025, after which the case was fixed for trial. According to the DPP, the prosecution listed the nominal complainant, Daniel Lucky Danjuma, and two police investigators, ASP Dolapo and Inspector Omozuafo Martins, as witnesses. Haroun said repeated efforts to secure Danjuma's attendance in court were unsuccessful because his telephone was unreachable. "The prosecuting team was unable to secure his attendance as his phone was unreachable," he said.

The prosecution subsequently commenced its case with Inspector Martins, who testified on December 10, 2025, about how the complainant arrested the defendants and took them to the Ikeja Police Station. According to Haroun, the complainant stated in his statement to the police that he and a friend boarded a "one-chance" bus on November 27, 2022, and were eventually allowed to alight at National Bus Stop, close to Oshodi. He allegedly told the police that he was subsequently attacked by some men armed with a cutlass and a gun, who also allegedly used charm, and robbed him of an iPhone 13 Pro Max and a gold chain. Haroun said the complainant returned to the area the following day and allegedly found one of the defendants wearing his palm slippers. The complainant then identified the man as one of his alleged attackers and took the first and second defendants to the police station, the DPP said.

However, after efforts to secure another witness failed, the prosecution closed its case, prompting the defendants, through their counsel, to file a no-case submission. Haroun said both parties filed and adopted their written addresses before Justice Oshodi delivered judgment on September 29, 2026. He said the court upheld the no-case submission and discharged the defendants. The DPP attributed the outcome to the failure of the nominal complainant to appear in court and testify against the defendants. "The nominal complainant who identified the defendants as part of the gang that attacked him did not come to court to testify in this case as such the evidence to link the defendants with the crime was unavailable," Haroun said. He added that the prosecution could not manufacture evidence where a key witness failed to appear in court. "The failure of the complainant to attend court underscores the importance of the fact that the prosecution cannot manufacture evidence unless witnesses appear to testify," he said.

The clarification follows a viral online report alleging that the defendants had been kept in custody over a pair of slippers allegedly similar to those belonging to the nominal complainant, a narrative that the ministry said misrepresented the nature of the charges and the basis of the prosecution. The case had also attracted public attention in May 2026, when the Lagos State Government dismissed allegations circulating in a viral social media video that it had unlawfully arrested and detained a 14-year-old boy at the Kirikiri custodial centre. At the time, the state government, through the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Lawal Pedro, said the individual at the centre of the controversy was actually Michael Adebiyi, who was 18 years old at the time of his arrest in 2022, and that he was arrested alongside Adedeji Kabiru and Adekunle Waris over allegations of armed robbery. Pedro said the legal advice issued by the Directorate of Public Prosecutions established a prima facie case against Adebiyi and Kabiru for conspiracy to commit robbery and armed robbery. The government's statement followed claims by human rights activists and the family of the suspect that he was a minor who had been detained without trial for years.

The discrepancy between the age claimed by the family and that stated by the government became the subject of public dispute, with activists questioning the official account and the government insisting that the suspect was an adult at the time of his arrest. The case became a flashpoint in the broader conversation about the treatment of young suspects in Nigeria's criminal justice system, the conditions in custodial facilities, and the speed at which cases move through the courts. The matter was further complicated by the fact that the prosecution's case ultimately collapsed not because the defendants were exonerated on the merits, but because the complainant failed to appear in court to testify, leaving the prosecution with insufficient evidence to sustain the charges.

The outcome of the case has implications that extend beyond the two defendants. It underscores the fragility of criminal prosecutions in Nigeria that depend on the testimony of a single complainant who may not be willing or able to appear in court. The prosecution's decision to close its case after the failure of the complainant to appear, and the court's decision to uphold the no-case submission, reflect the legal principle that a defendant cannot be called upon to defend himself when the prosecution has not presented sufficient evidence to establish a prima facie case. Haroun's statement that the prosecution cannot manufacture evidence is a reminder that the burden of proof rests on the state, and that the absence of key witnesses can collapse a case regardless of the strength of other evidence.

For the defendants, the judgment brings an end to a legal process that began with their arrest in November 2022 and continued for nearly four years. For the complainant, the failure to appear leaves unanswered questions about the robbery he reported and the identification of the men he accused. For the Lagos State Ministry of Justice, the clarification is an attempt to set the record straight on a case that had been reduced in public discourse to a dispute over a pair of slippers, obscuring the underlying allegation of armed robbery that formed the basis of the prosecution. The ministry's rejoinder serves as both a correction of the public narrative and a reminder of the challenges that confront the criminal justice system when witnesses cannot be secured and cases depend on testimony that never materialises. The case is now closed, the defendants are discharged, and the question of what actually happened on November 27, 2022, remains unanswered in any court of law.

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