Akpi’s lawyer has revealed that Speed Darlington’s release has been ordered once again Speed Darlington
In a ruling on Monday, January 6, 2025, Justice M.S. Liman of the Federal High Court in Abuja ordered the immediate release of Speed Darlington from detention. The judge directed the Inspector General of Police and the Nigerian Police Force to either charge him in court within 48 hours or release him without conditions.
This decision comes two weeks after the controversial musician was granted bail following nearly a month in custody. However, the Nigerian Police Force has failed to comply with the court’s order.
As of the time of this report, the singer, born Darlington Okoye, remains in detention. Justice Liman’s ruling emphasized that the prolonged detention violates the musician’s fundamental rights to dignity, liberty, and freedom of expression, as guaranteed by Chapter IV of the Nigerian Constitution.
The respite from this whole Akpi brouhaha is that due to the public attention it has garnered, it has shone a light on how autocratic the Nigerian Police Force is and how they flagrantly disobey court rulings once they are sentimentally attached to a case….
When some of us speak against the lawlessness in the Nigerian Police Force, people feel we have personal grievances against them; no, I, personally have a lot of senior police officers as friends and clients but we can’t achieve a near-perfect society with this kind of police force.
The Nigerian Police have refused to release Speed Darlington, a.k.a. Akpi, despite the explicit order of the Federal High Court to do so. This is the highest form of disrespect to the judiciary.
