NAPTIP places Speed Darlington on watchlist

The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) has placed Nigerian rapper Darlington Okoye, popularly known as Speed Darlington, on its watchlist after he reportedly failed to honour an invitation to the agency’s headquarters in Abuja.

The development was announced by NAPTIP’s Director of Legal and Prosecution, Ijeoma Mary Amugo, during a press briefing on Monday to kick off the 2025 edition of the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence.

According to Amugo, the agency had invited the musician to answer questions regarding a disturbing claim he made during a live Instagram session in May. In the viral broadcast, Speed Darlington allegedly boasted about having sexual relations with a 15-year-old girl—an act that amounts to sexual involvement with a minor and falls under NAPTIP’s mandate to investigate.

Fielding questions from journalists, the NAPTIP’s Director of Prosecution said the rapper tried to intimidate the agency.

NAPTIP further said it has not been able to trace Speed Darlington to a known address, making it difficult to get him to answer for the alleged crime.

“So what he did was to preemptively try to intimidate us by going to the social media to say that he wouldn’t come and that he wouldn’t respond to us, that we are kind of sitting on his human rights.

“So we tried our best to physically locate him because you have to locate the suspect before justice will be served,” Amugo stated.

She said, “So, as I’m speaking to you, the last report we have is that he’s outside the country and we have not heard from him yet. We have placed him on watch list. Anytime he enters Nigeria, NAPTIP is going to continue the investigation from where we stopped. So that is the status of the case for now.”

Director-General of NAPTIP, Binta Adamu Bello said the agency would be fine-tuning its implementation strategies to tighten the noose on offenders.

“Nigeria is making efforts to deal with the rising cases of human trafficking across the country.

“However, enforcement remains a challenge, given societal attitudes and cultural norms,” he said.