By Pascal Ibe

“He’s a well-known old customer to the @PoliceNG.” this and more comments trailed the news of Speed Darlington’s arrest shared by @Pulse Nigeria on its X account on Thursday, 3rd April 2025.

Pulse Nigeria is an online newspaper, with over 2.2m followers on the X platform.

The online newspaper published the story link on Thursday with a caption that reads, “BREAKING: Police arrest Speed Darlington again during Owerri show.

The post has already generated over 11k views and more than 80 likes.

In October 2024, the social media influencer and entertainer Darlington Okoye, aka Speed Darlington, said to be missing, was detained by the Nigerian Police Force in Abuja.

It was gathered that the Nigeria Police had arrested Darlington over the alleged cyberstalking of a fellow musician, Damini Ogulu, popularly known as Burna Boy.

The singer was arrested in Lagos and transferred to Abuja before being detained by the IGP’s Intelligence Response Team in the Guzape area of Abuja.

The musician, who was accused of cyberstalking Burna Boy, was released on bail days after his arrest.

Recirculated old story

However, many X users may have to open the story link and discover that this news was an incident in November 2024, not recent.

When FACTWATCH Nigeria clicked on the link, the first paragraph of the story, dated 27 November 2024, showed that it was the second time operatives of the Nigeria Police Force arrested Speed Darlington in Owerri, the Imo State capital, for allegedly cyberstalking Burna Boy. This is primary evidence the recirculation of the story by Purse Nigeria is MISLEADING to the public.

See a similar old report published in November 2024 here

Speed Darlington was released by the police in January 2025 after a court granted him bail. Since then, there has not been any credible report that the social media influencer was nabbed recently.

A check on the official Facebook page of the Nigerian police indicated that his recent arrest was not true. Also, Imo State Police Command is yet to confirm it.

Further checks on the Facebook page of Speed Darlington showed that he made posts here and here on Friday.

Verdict

For reasons best known to Pulse Nigeria, it intentionally recirculated an old story link of Speed Darlington’s arrest that was MISLEADING to the public.