KC Luxury’s Detention: Court Takes Fresh Action, Fixes New Date In NDLEA Legal Battle

The Federal High Court sitting in Lagos has adjourned proceedings in the case involving detained businessman and social media influencer, Afolabi Kazeem Michael, popularly known as KC Luxury, to September 21, 2026.

Justice Friday Ogazi fixed the new date on Wednesday after lawyers in the matter asked the court to await the decision of a sister court on an application challenging its jurisdiction to entertain the detention case.

KC Luxury’s counsel, Abdulakeem Labi-Lawal, SAN, told the court that although the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) obtained an order authorising the continued detention of his client for 30 days to enable it to conduct further investigations, the order did not expressly compel the agency to keep him in custody for the entire period.

The defence lawyer further argued that the NDLEA could release KC Luxury on bail if it was satisfied with the progress of its investigation.

According to Bush Radio Academy, Labi-Lawal said his client had already challenged the jurisdiction of the court to issue the detention order and that the application had been argued, with parties now awaiting the ruling.

He therefore requested an adjournment to allow both sides respond to the various processes filed in the matter. He also informed the court that the respondents had served their counter-affidavit on the defence team, giving his client five days to file a response.

Counsel to the NDLEA, Abu Ibrahim, did not oppose the request for an adjournment. He, however, clarified that the 30-day remand order was secured in August before KC Luxury approached the court seeking an order for his production.

Justice Ogazi subsequently adjourned the matter until September 21 for further proceedings.

KC Luxury is challenging an August 20, 2026 ex parte order that authorised the NDLEA to detain him for 30 days while investigating allegations of drug trafficking. In Suit No. FHC/LAG/MISC/1199/2026, his legal team is asking the court to set aside or discharge the order, arguing that no criminal charge has been filed against him.

The defence has maintained that the Federal High Court’s jurisdiction to try offences under the NDLEA Act is separate from its authority to issue a pre-charge remand order. The lawyers argued that having jurisdiction over drug-related offences does not automatically empower the court to remand an individual who has not been charged simply to give investigators more time to complete an investigation.

The defence has also questioned the duration of the detention, arguing that the 30-day remand order conflicts with provisions of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015.

Relying on Sections 293 to 299 of the Act, the lawyers specifically cited Section 296(1), which they said provides that an initial remand order should not exceed 14 days.

According to the defence, the wording of the law does not permit a court to replace the statutory 14-day limit with a single 30-day detention order. The lawyers further argued that where investigators require additional time to keep a suspect in custody, further judicial review should be sought rather than relying on one uninterrupted detention period.

KC Luxury’s legal team has also asked the court to abridge the time for hearing the application and bring forward the date previously fixed for the review of his detention.

The defence contends that allowing the detention to continue could amount to an infringement of KC Luxury’s constitutional right to personal liberty and could undermine the effectiveness of his legal challenge.

The allegations against KC Luxury have not been determined by the court, and the ongoing proceedings concern the legality of his continued detention and the jurisdictional issues raised by his defence.