Arrested Over Similar Slippers, Lagos Teenager Spends Nearly Four Years in Custody

Kehinde Adeleye

For nearly four years, a Lagos teenager remained behind bars, with his case moving through the justice system while his family members were nowhere to be seen in court. His ordeal, which reportedly began in 2022 over an allegation involving slippers similar to those worn by a complainant, has finally ended with his discharge and acquittal.

The teenager, whose identity has not been disclosed, was freed alongside another defendant after the intervention of civil society organisation Citizens Gavel, whose legal team discovered their cases during a visit to the Medium Security Correctional Centre in January 2024.

According to the organisation, the teenager had been in custody since 2022 without appearing in court when its lawyers first encountered his case. What followed was a lengthy legal process marked by repeated court appearances, adjournments and the prosecution’s failure to produce a witness, Citizens Gavel said.

The circumstances surrounding the teenager’s arrest have drawn attention to the human cost of prolonged detention. Citizens Gavel said he was allegedly arrested because he wore slippers similar to those belonging to the complainant in the case.

For someone who was still a teenager when his ordeal began, the years spent in custody meant remaining behind bars while the case against him remained unresolved. His identity has been withheld, and details of his life before the arrest have not been made public.

“Our ordeal came to our attention in January 2024 during a visit to the Medium Security Correctional Centre, where our legal team in Lagos interviewed them and discovered that, despite having been arrested since 2022, they had never been taken to court,” Citizens Gavel said in its account of the case.

The organisation subsequently took up the matter and began tracking it through the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions. Its lawyers traced the case to the court of Justice Coker, where they first appeared in March 2024.

Citizens Gavel said its legal team appeared before the court more than seven times and filed applications seeking to have the case struck out. According to the organisation, repeated adjournments followed, but the prosecution failed to produce a witness.

The case took another turn in early 2025 when the organisation said it was informed that Justice Coker had been assigned to another official duty and that the matter would be transferred to a different court.

The legal team had to trace the case again, eventually locating it at the court of Justice Oshodi. When the lawyers appeared there in March 2025, the charges were read to both defendants, who pleaded not guilty.

At the close of the prosecution’s case, Citizens Gavel filed a No Case Submission, arguing that the evidence presented was insufficient to require the defendants to enter a defence. The court later upheld the submission and discharged and acquitted both men.

But beyond the legal outcome, the organisation said what stood out was the defendants’ isolation throughout much of the ordeal.

“What makes this victory even more profound is that throughout this nearly four-year ordeal, not a single member of either defendant’s family appeared in court. No other lawyer also represented them. They endured years in custody largely unseen and unheard. Today, they walk free,” Citizens Gavel said.

Their release has brought the case to an end, but the years spent in custody cannot be returned. The teenager’s experience also raises questions about how people held before trial are monitored, how promptly their cases reach court and whether vulnerable defendants can obtain legal assistance when family support is absent.

For the teenager, freedom has finally come after years of uncertainty. For the justice system, the case is a reminder that the time people spend awaiting trial has consequences for real lives, particularly when those in custody have little support to help them navigate the legal process.