The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) has enlisted the support of international security agencies in its intensified efforts to apprehend singer Darlington Okoye, popularly known as Speed Darlington, describing him as a threat to humanity.
PREMIUM TIMES reported on Friday that NAPTIP declared Speed Darlington wanted after he failed to honour invitations for questioning over allegations of engaging in sex with a 15-year-old girl.
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Meanwhile, on Tuesday, NAPTIP’s Press Officer, Vincent Adekoya, told this newspaper that the agency has engaged international security agencies to apprehend the fleeing singer.
“Yes, we are considering placing a N50 million bounty on the singer because he refused to come. We have summoned him twice, and he refused to come, so the agency is doing everything possible to get him to answer his confessions.
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There has been no contact with his lawyer, legal team or the agency.”
The government official further emphasised the agency’s determination to arrest the ‘Baby Oil’ crooner, saying, “NAPTIP has strengthened its relationship with all its partners, within and outside Nigeria, to get him to answer for his action that he publicly confessed to in several videos he has put out.
“We expect that with all this development, he should turn himself in, so we have activated all our apparatus to ensure that we get him to answer for his actions,” he explained.
Evidence
Reacting to the question on additional evidence against the singer, aside the alleged confession to rape video, the NAPTIP official said: “That will be discussed when we get to that level. So, we will not assist with evidence for now because this has not gone to the court of law, but when we get there, we will see how it will play out.”
Reacting to the viral video showing the singer fleeing Nigeria and questions about the possibility of his permanent evading capture, the press officer assured the public that the singer could not escape the agency’s reach.
He said: “With the nature of the offence he confessed to have committed, I can assure you that there is no hidden place for him anywhere in the world. In the Western world, the offence he claimed to have committed is very grievous.
“NAPTIP will do everything possible to partner with other agencies and security across the world to smoke him out, so there is no place for him to hide,” Mr Adekoya noted.
The press officer added, “Because he is already an endangered species to humanity, he is very dangerous to service providers wherever he is hiding, dangerous to vendors wherever he is hiding, even to his neighbours everywhere.”
Backstory
It all started on Children’s Day, 27 May 2025, when the controversial Speed Darlington allegedly confessed to having carnal knowledge of a 15-year-old girl during a live Instagram session.
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His confession led to outrage on social media, where internet users demanded his arrest.
This made him appear in another Instagram video to retract his remarks; he claimed his earlier confession was a means to ‘trend’ his newly released song, ‘Village Girl,’ rather than an actual occurrence.
Subsequently, NAPTIP invited the ‘Village Girl’ singer for questioning over several viral videos that alleged he had sex with minors, but he repeatedly declined the invitation.
His decline to the invitation was followed by NAPTIP declaring him wanted, which generated a counter-reaction video from the controversial singer who claimed he had not committed any offence.
In the video, Speed Darlington challenged the government body to take it down and demanded N2.5 million for him to honour the agency’s invitation. Afterwards, a video surfaced online showing the singer with luggage, suggesting that the singer might have absconded.
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