Police delay Speed Darlington’s release hours after second court order
The Abuja Division of the Federal High Court has again ordered Inspector-General of Police Kayode Egbetokun to stop flouting court orders and release Darlington Achakpo, a popular Nigerian artiste known as Speed Darlington.
The police had previously ignored a December 2024 court order directing the artiste’s release.
Justice Musa Liman again on Monday directed Mr Egbetokun to free Mr Achakpo, who has been languishing in a police cell for weeks over a controversial lawsuit of defamation against Grammy award-winning singer Damini Ogulu, better known as Burna Boy.
Mr Liman ordered that Mr Achakpo be released to his lawyers, who will then produce him in court for subsequent hearings, particularly so that Marshall Abubakar can stand as surety for the defendant.
But since the court order was issued at noon on Monday, the police were still dilly-dallying on the matter and told Mr Abubakar they would contact him.
As of 3:00 p.m. Monday, the police had not yet contacted the lawyer to hash out details of Mr Achakpo’s release, stirring concerns about the police’s disregard for court orders under Mr Egbetokun’s inspectorship.
Burna Boy has continued to face rumours of allegedly sleeping with fellow man Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs in exchange for his Grammy award, given that his collaboration with the U.S. rapper won him his first Grammy award.
Diddy executive produced Burna Boy’s Twice as Tall album, which won a Grammy award in 2021.
“I executive produced his Grammy Award-winning album Twice As Tall,” Diddy wrote on X in September 2023.
“I’ve been blessed to work with incredible talent on this album. Me and my brother @BurnaBoy, we developed a brotherhood during quarantine,” Diddy added in his X post.
Lil Rod, a producer who claimed to have worked on Diddy’s album, alleged the rapper pressured him on multiple occasions to have gay sex with him in exchange for a Grammy award. Diddy said he made many people in the entertainment industry Grammy winners, according to Lil Rod’s account of the matter.
Diddy, 54, was arrested on September 16, 2024, and is facing a morass of lawsuits and charges that include sex trafficking, transportation for prostitution and so on.
While some fans have praised Burna Boy for deploying police to arrest Mr Achakpo over defamation claims to implicitly argue his innocence, other Nigerians have rebuked the artiste for allowing Speed Darlington to spend the Christmas and New Year Holidays behind bars over a civil case that could be resolved in court.
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