Human rights lawyer and activist Dele Farotimi has said the growing influence of social media activist Martins Otse, popularly known as VeryDarkMan (VDM), reflects the failure of Nigeria’s judicial system.
Farotimi made the remark in a video shared on YouTube on Saturday while commenting on the controversy surrounding VeryDarkMan’s invitation to the Nigerian Bar Association’s 66th Annual General Conference in Port Harcourt.
According to Farotimi, the emergence of VeryDarkMan as an alternative voice for justice would not have happened in a country where the police, courts and other institutions function effectively.
“A society that has law and order, that is ruled by law, that has a functional police system, a functional court system, would not even tolerate the presence or existence of a VDM,” he said.
He described VeryDarkMan as a reflection of the weaknesses within the country’s justice system, arguing that efforts to silence or attack the activist would not address the problems that created the conditions for his popularity.
“VDM is merely the image in your mirror. The society you have built requires VDM to find justice,” Farotimi said.
He added that the popular description of the judiciary as the last hope of the common man no longer reflected the reality in Nigeria.
“They say the judiciary is the last hope of the common man. Nah, lie. VDM has become the last hope of the common man in the society that you built. Shame on all of you,” he said.
Farotimi warned that the emergence of similar figures could become more widespread if the government and relevant institutions failed to address public dissatisfaction with the justice system.
“The society you built requires VDM to do justice. Very soon there will be multiplicities of VDM in the society that you have built,” he said.
He further cautioned that if institutional failures persisted, future activists could resort to more dangerous means of enforcing what they considered justice.
“If the courts are useless, the VDMs of this world will emerge. And if you think VDM is the end of it, that’s the best you’re going to get. The ones who will come after, some of them will come behind him and they will carry guns to enforce their laws,” Farotimi stated.
The lawyer urged Nigerians to focus on fixing the institutions responsible for administering justice rather than concentrating solely on VeryDarkMan’s conduct.
He said, “The reality of the matter is that, look very well in that mirror. Look well in the mirror that is being held up for you. If you have built a society where the truth has become an offence, it is because the law does not rule that society.”
Farotimi also criticised those attacking VeryDarkMan over his participation at the NBA conference, saying the controversy should prompt a broader conversation about why Nigerians increasingly turn to social media personalities when seeking redress.
He argued that the situation did not develop overnight, but was the result of years of institutional failures.
“It didn’t happen overnight. It didn’t happen by accident. We didn’t stumble into this. We allowed it,” he said.
Recall that VeryDarkMan criticised the legal profession after taking part in a panel discussion on insecurity at the NBA’s 66th Annual General Conference in Port Harcourt.
Responding to criticism over his invitation, the activist said he attended the conference to speak for poor Nigerians and people without a voice.
VeryDarkMan subsequently criticised the legal profession, arguing that law was no longer a noble profession.
He also questioned the economic prospects of lawyers in Nigeria, describing law as one of the country’s “broke” professions and asking how many lawyers could secure meaningful employment.
Farotimi maintained that solving problems in the justice system would require collective action and institutional reform, rather than silencing individual personalities.
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