Human rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria Femi Falana has faulted the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) for inviting social media influencer Martins Vincent Otse, popularly known as VeryDarkMan (VDM), to speak on insecurity at its 66th Annual General Conference in Port Harcourt.
Falana, in an interview with Channels Television on Thursday, said speakers on specialised subjects such as national security should have relevant expertise, arguing that NBA conferences ought to be platforms for intellectual engagement, not entertainment. He recalled addresses by the late Dr Akinola Aguda in 1985 and the late Justice Oputa in 1987, saying such speakers generated public debate for weeks because they had ‘paid their dues’ and engaged lawyers intellectually. He said similar standards should apply to political leaders invited to speak on democracy and the rule of law, whose records in office should be open to scrutiny.
Responding to a defence of VDM’s invitation by Professor Chidi Odinkalu, who argued it gave lawyers an opportunity to hear public feedback on the justice system, Falana said the argument did not apply to a specialised discussion on national security, which required the participation of security personnel or victims of abductions.
His position aligned with the Chairman of Emohua Local Government Area of Rivers State, Dr Chidi Julius Lloyd, a former law lecturer at the University of Nigeria, Enugu campus, who described the NBA’s decision as inappropriate. In a Facebook post titled ‘Shame on the NBA,’ Lloyd said the conference was being reduced to an avenue for clout and content creation instead of featuring legal luminaries, senior advocates, judges and policy experts. He also faulted Otse’s remarks on the Armed Forces, saying personnel who risk their lives for the country’s sovereignty deserved respect, and separately criticised the conference’s choice of political speakers, including the Labour Party’s Peter Obi.
At the conference, Otse had alleged that police officers manning highway checkpoints from Lagos to Abuja relayed information on travellers to kidnappers and bandits, facilitating abductions for ransom. He also alleged that security agencies knew the identities of kidnappers and terrorists and were benefiting from their activities.
But the police rejected the allegations in a statement on Thursday signed by Force Public Relations Officer CSP Aniete Iniedu, describing them as unsubstantiated and inviting Otse to submit evidence for investigation. The Force said checkpoint officers were deployed to prevent and detect crime, not to facilitate kidnapping, and that it would be unfair to portray the entire institution as complicit on the strength of an unsupported allegation, noting that hundreds of thousands of officers reported for duty daily under difficult and dangerous conditions. It said officers found to have compromised their duty would face internal discipline and the law, and urged the public to distinguish between legitimate criticism and unsubstantiated claims capable of undermining public trust.
But Otse fired back, saying he would not present his evidence to the police. ‘I’m not going to be giving the police my evidence. Why would I do that? Charge me to court and I will provide my evidence in court,’ he said, adding that his lawyers were prepared to appear with him should he be charged. He maintained that the police, military, immigration and customs authorities were complicit in the country’s insecurity, and challenged them to prosecute him if they believed he had broken the law.