VDM Walks Back on Comments About Security Agencies During NBA Speech

Popular social media activist Martins Vincent Otse, widely known as VeryDarkMan (VDM), has issued a public apology to the Nigerian military, police, customs, and immigration services following backlash over his remarks at the Nigerian Bar Association’s (NBA) 66th Annual General Conference.

​During a video address released on Friday, VDM admitted that his choice of words during the event was a generalization that unfairly targeted personnel genuinely risking their lives for the country.

VDM expressed regret over his previous statements associating security forces with “unknown gunmen,” noting it was an injustice to frontline troops.

He specifically apologized to the Chief of Defence Staff, active-duty personnel fighting insurgency in the bushes, and the families of fallen heroes.

While walking back his broad generalizations, VDM maintained that corrupt elements and saboteurs still exist within the security apparatus and vowed that their “days are numbered”.

“I don’t think I was fair to a lot of people, particularly the speech where I said that the military are the unknown gunmen, the police are the unknown gunmen, you know, the immigration, the customs.

“I know exactly what I was trying to say because, I mean, I have evidence to back up my claim, but I wasn’t fair to a lot of people in that speech,” he said.

He said he was particularly concerned about soldiers fighting Boko Haram and other threats in the bushes.

“That speech was not fair, especially to the soldiers that are in the bushes fighting Boko Haram to protect our lands, to protect our lives, and to protect our families.

“I don’t think it’s fair to say they are also the unknown gunmen, to be very honest, because these people have laid down their lives,” he said.

Otse said he intended to draw attention to alleged corruption and sabotage by some personnel within the security agencies.

“My speech was not to discourage you.

“My speech was entirely to talk about the bad eggs in our security operatives, our security forces, to put attention on the bad eggs, so that the leaders in these security settings will look inward and see that sometimes information is being leaked and their own people are sabotaging them,” he said.

He, however, admitted that the way he presented his argument made it appear as though he was generalising.

“But by passing that speech, as I said, it seems like I was generalising and it’s not fair to the fallen soldiers,” he said.

Otse subsequently apologised to the Chief of Defence Staff and the leadership of the security agencies.

“So I will go further to say to the Chief of Defence Staff, Sir, I really want to apologise for that speech, and I don’t want to discourage your boys.

“Please extend my apologies to your boys, to the ones that are in the bush protecting our lands,” he said.

He also apologised to the police, customs and immigration authorities, as well as the families of fallen security personnel.

“To the families of these heroes that might have also felt offended by this speech, knowing fully well that their brother, their sister, their son, their husband fought and died for this country, I am really, really sorry,” he said.

The activist maintained that there were still “a lot of good people” within the security agencies despite his allegations against some personnel.

“Yes, a lot of bad eggs there, like I said, a lot of bad eggs, a lot of them are there.

“A lot of corrupt generals, a lot of high-ranking police officers are corrupt, a lot of junior officers are corrupt, a lot of them are there. But there’s still a lot more good people, a lot more good people, and I know a lot of them,” he said.