Activist VeryDarkMan Says Sorry to Security Agencies for Comments

Social media activist Martins Vincent Otse, also known as VeryDarkMan, has apologised to Nigeria's security agencies. This follows his remarks at the 66th Annual General Conference of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

In a video he posted on Facebook on Friday, Mr Otse said he thought about his speech. He realised he was unfair to security personnel who risk their lives to protect Nigerians.

“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.

During a panel session at the NBA conference, the activist called the Nigerian military, police, Nigeria Immigration, and Nigerian Customs “unknown gunmen.” He also claimed that police officers at checkpoints share information about travellers with kidnappers and terrorists.

In response, the police asked Mr Otse to provide evidence for his claims. In his Facebook video on Friday, he said he thought again about his remarks. He believes he did not mean to accuse all security operatives of being criminals.

“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.

Mr Otse stressed that he was especially unfair to security operatives who genuinely fight against crime and terrorism. “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.

He pointed out that his goal was to highlight alleged corruption and sabotage by some people in Nigeria’s security agencies. “My speech was not to discourage you. My speech was entirely to talk about the bad eggs in our security operative, our security forces, is to put attention on the bad eggs, so that the leaders in these security settings will look inward and to see that sometimes information are being leaked and their own people are sabotaging them,” he said.

Mr Otse admitted he was honest in his claims, but his comments were unfair generalisations. “But by passing that speech, like I said, it seems like I was generalising and it’s not fair to the fallen soldiers,” he said.

He continued, “(There’s) 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 of more good people, a lot of more good people, and I know a lot of them.” Mr Otse specifically apologised to the Chief of Defence Staff and the leaders of the country’s 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.

Mr Otse shared his concern that genuine soldiers fighting hard in the bush might feel discouraged after seeing his comments at the NBA conference. “Me and the police, we work steadily. I give, sometimes I share police information, tell them, ‘Oh, this is what is happening here, please, can you intercept,” he said.

He urged security operatives who truly protect the country not to feel discouraged by his comments. “We’re there behind you now, and we’ll always support you. You know, and we are part of this thing, security is for all of us,” he said.

Mr Otse repeated his warning to security operatives involved in sabotage, arms supply, and leaking information to terrorists. “But then again, to the bad eggs, your days are numbered. To all of you in the military that are sabotaging and causing deaths to your officers, your days are numbered,” he stated.