The Lagos State Ministry of Justice has clarified that a teenager and an adult recently reported to have been detained over a pair of slippers were actually prosecuted for alleged conspiracy to commit robbery and armed robbery.
The clarification was contained in a statement by the Director of Public Prosecutions, Adebayo Haroun, concerning charge number ID/22014C/23. The defendants were charged under Sections 299 and 297(2) of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.
According to the ministry, the case arose from allegations that the defendants were among a group that attacked and robbed a man of an iPhone 13 Pro Max and a gold chain.
The ministry said the complainant told police that he and a friend had boarded a “one-chance” vehicle on November 27, 2022, before being attacked by men allegedly armed with a gun and cutlass near Oshodi.
The complainant later returned to the area and identified one of the defendants after allegedly seeing him wearing his palm slippers. He subsequently took the defendants to the Ikeja Police Station.
The case was initially assigned to Justice Adenike Coker of the Ikeja High Court after the information was filed in May 2023. It was later transferred to Justice Hakeem Oshodi in October 2025.
The defendants pleaded to the charges on October 13, 2025, and the prosecution began presenting its case. However, the complainant did not appear in court despite repeated attempts to secure his attendance.
The prosecution subsequently closed its case after presenting one police witness. The defendants then filed a no-case submission, arguing that the prosecution had failed to establish a case requiring them to defend themselves.
On September 29, 2026, Justice Oshodi upheld the no-case submission and discharged the two defendants.
The ministry said the complainant’s failure to testify meant there was insufficient evidence linking the defendants to the alleged robbery.
It therefore rejected the description of the case as one in which the defendants were detained simply because of a pair of slippers, stressing that they had been charged over allegations of armed robbery and conspiracy.
The clarification followed reports that one of the defendants had spent years in custody after allegedly being arrested because he wore slippers similar to those belonging to the robbery complainant.
