NAPTIP Places Rapper 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 watchlist following his refusal to honour the agency’s invitation to its Abuja headquarters.

NAPTIP’s Director, Legal and Prosecution Department, Ijeoma Mary Amugo, made the disclosure at a press conference to commence the 2025 edition of the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence in Abuja, on Monday.

NAPTIP has had summoned Darlington over his alleged claim in May this year of having sex with a 15-year-old girl during a live Instagram video, a claim that bothers on sexual activity with an underage female.

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.