The Take-It-Back (TIB) Movement has secured the release of 19-year-old Gafar Oluwaseun Babalola, a Point-of-Sale (POS) attendant detained by the Nigerian Police at their headquarters in Ikeja, Lagos State.
Gafar, a recent secondary school graduate, had been arrested days earlier in connection with a suspicious transaction allegedly linked to his employer’s account.
He had been working for a POS business operator, Abimbola Aina, in the Iyana School area of Iba, Lagos.
According to the family, the transaction in question was carried out by an unknown third party and credited directly into Aina’s account. Despite this, the police detained Gafar and later released Aina without charge.
Family members told SaharaReporters that Gafar remained in custody even after it became clear he had no personal involvement in the transaction.
They accused the police of threatening them for speaking to the media and of demanding two sureties to stand for Gafar’s release, even though the alleged transaction did not occur on his personal account.
The unjust detention drew the attention of rights advocates, prompting swift intervention by the Lagos State Chairman of AAC, Ayoyinka Oni, and the Lagos Coordinator of the TIB Movement, Adekunle Adeyemi Taofeek. Following their intervention, Gafar was released without charge.
“They told us to come back on Thursday,” a family member said, “but as I’m speaking to you, they have released him—thanks to AAC and TIB. The police asked us to stand in for him and provide our home address.”
The family maintains Gafar’s innocence and insists he was simply an employee under Aina, who owns the POS business and account involved.
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