Speed Darlington has filed a suit against National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) over alleged violation of his fundamental human rights.
On June 27, the agency declared the controversial rapper wanted for alleged rape, cyberbullying, and cyberstalking.
This was after he failed to honour an invitation for questioning over his public admission of having sexual intercourse with a 15-year-old girl.
Following the intense backlash, Darlington backtracked on his earlier confession, claiming it was entirely fictional.
In the suit filed at the federal high court in Abuja, Darlington argued that declaring him wanted “without a court order was unlawful, illegal, and unconstitutional”.
The rapper accused the agency of violating his fundamental rights including “personal liberty, privacy, freedom of movement, and protection from inhuman and degrading treatment”.
“A DECLARATION that the very act of declaring the Applicant WANTED with the caption WANTED BY NAPTIP via publications made by the Respondents on all its social media handles and by pasting on or about the 27th day of June, 2025 and subsequent publications and circulation in many Newspapers in both Print and electronic Edition without any prior order or leave of a Court of competent jurisdiction to that effect is unlawful, illegal, wrongful, ultra vires, unconstitutional and constitutes a flagrant violation of the Fundamental rights of the Applicant to personal liberty, private and family life, freedom of movement and right not to be subjected to inhuman treatment and degrading treatment,” the lawsuit reads in part.
The singer is seeking N1 billion in general damages, N2 billion in punitive damages, with an additional 5% monthly interest until the full sum is paid.
He is also urging the court to order NAPTIP to issue a public apology and permanently restrain the agency and its affiliates from acting on the wanted declaration.
