Eniola Yekini
Social media activist, Martins Vincent Otse, popularly known as VeryDarkMan, has apologised to soldiers, police officers, customs and immigration personnel over his controversial remarks at the Nigerian Bar Association’s 66th Annual General Conference in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
VeryDarkMan, in a video shared on Friday, said he had reflected on his speech at the conference and realised that he was unfair to security personnel who were genuinely risking their lives to protect Nigerians.
The activist had, while speaking at the NBA conference, described military, police, immigration and customs personnel as “unknown gunmen” during his discussion on insecurity.
However, in his latest video, VeryDarkMan said his comments were not intended to accuse all security personnel of involvement in criminal activities.
“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,” he said.
VeryDarkMan maintained that he had evidence to support the concerns he was trying to raise but admitted that the manner in which he presented his argument amounted to generalisation.
“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 deployed to the bush to fight Boko Haram and other security threats.
“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,” he said.
“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.”
According to the activist, his intention was to draw attention to alleged corruption, information leaks and sabotage by some individuals within the security agencies, rather than discourage security personnel carrying out their duties.
“My speech was not to discourage you,” he said, explaining that he wanted attention focused on the “bad eggs” within the security forces so that their leadership could investigate alleged leaks and internal sabotage.
VeryDarkMan also apologised to the Chief of Defence Staff and the leadership of the affected 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,” he said.
He asked the Chief of Defence Staff to extend his apology to soldiers serving in the bush and protecting Nigerians.
The activist also apologised to the police, customs and immigration authorities, as well as families of security personnel who may have been offended by his remarks, particularly families of fallen officers and soldiers.
“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.
Despite his apology, VeryDarkMan maintained his allegation that there were corrupt individuals within the security agencies, stressing that this did not mean all personnel were bad.
“Yes, a lot of bad eggs there, like I said, a lot of bad eggs, a lot of them are there,” he said, while acknowledging that there were also many good and dedicated personnel within the agencies.
He said he was concerned that his earlier comments could discourage soldiers risking their lives in the fight against insurgency.
“Imagine a soldier fighting in the bush and he watches VDM’s video, and he’s like, ‘Ah, VDM is one of us now, unknown gunman.’ That would discourage him, to be honest,” he said.
VeryDarkMan also said his interactions with some police officers had exposed him to challenges within the force, noting that he sometimes shares security-related information with police officers to help them respond to incidents.
He urged security personnel who were genuinely protecting the country not to be discouraged by his comments.
“And please don’t be discouraged, please, please, don’t be discouraged,” the activist said.