On Monday, a Federal High Court in Abuja postponed until March 19 for the adoption of procedures the N300 million fundamental rights enforcement lawsuit that musician Darlington Achakpo, better known by his stage name Speed Darlington, had brought against the police.
After CSP Audu Garba, the Inspector-General (I-G) of Police’s counsel, told the court that the police had recently filed a second counter-affidavit in response to the singer’s additional affidavit served on them on the most recent adjourned date, Justice Musa Liman set the date.
Speed Darlington’s Rosemary Hamza claimed she hadn’t been served yet and didn’t know how to react.
The court then gave the parties till March 19 to adopt their procedures.
In FHC/ABJ/CS/1832/2024, Speed Darlington filed a fundamental rights lawsuit against I-G as the only respondent.
The artist requested four orders from the court, arguing that his arrest and incarceration were a violation of his fundamental rights as outlined in the 1999 Constitution.
Deji Adeyanju filed the lawsuit, requesting an injunction compelling the I-G to liberate him from the detention facility where he is being held immediately and unconditionally.
As an alternative, he requested an order for the I-G to bring him before the court so that it may investigate the reasons behind his arrest and imprisonment and, if appropriate, grant him bail.
Additionally, he requested “an order directing the respondent to pay the applicant N300,000,000.00 (three hundred million naira) only as general, exemplary, and aggravated damages for their unlawful and continued detention since 2024 till date.”
According to the statement filed by the legal firm’s secretary, Esther Eyisi, Speed Darlington was initially taken into custody on October 4, 2024, on suspicion of defaming well-known singer Burna Boy.
She claimed that without being formally prosecuted in a court of competent jurisdiction, he was unlawfully held for five days and endured extreme torture and mistreatment.
Eyisi claimed that after five days under cruel conditions, the artist was finally given bail by the authorities.
She claims that on November 27, 2024, respondent officers arrested and detained the applicant on suspicion of violating administrative bail.
She claimed that this was the case despite receiving notification from her client of his medical emergency, which prevented him from reporting on the appointed date, and securing consent from the respondent’s officers to go to Owerri, Imo, for a performance.
She described Speed Darlington as the “breadwinner in his family” and claimed that his fundamental rights were violated by his ongoing detention without arraignment.
However, in the police counter-affidavit that SP David Atama deposed to, he said that on September 24, 2024, his office got a petition from Burna, also known as Damini Ebunoluwa Ogulu, the nominal complainant.
According to Atama, Burna Boy’s supporters intimidated him and threatened his life, which is against Section 24 of the Cybercrime Prohibition (Prevention) Act, 2015 (as modified).
According to the officer, Speed Darlington was requested to participate in the inquiry and volunteered to provide a written statement acknowledging that he had committed the crime.
However, Speed Darlington claimed in the further affidavit that he had never acknowledged committing any crimes.
The singer claimed that Burna Boy “had confirmed the allegation which is now the subject of a brute joke that several personalities have been making publicly in respect of the said Burna Boy,” proving that the accusations in the counter-affidavit were untrue and deceptive.
He claimed that, in contrast to the police’s argument, he had never jumped bail.
On January 15, however, Justice Ekerete Akpan of a sister count in Abuja allowed Speed Darlington to a N20 million bail with one surety.
After the musician entered a not guilty plea to a two-count allegation that bordered on alleged cybercrime, his attorney, Marshall Abubakar, requested bail, and Justice Akpan granted it.