VDM Apologises to Nigeria's Security Forces for 'Unknown Gunmen' Remarks

Popular social critic, Martins Vincent Otse, widely known as VeryDarkMan, has issued an apology to personnel across Nigeria's security architecture, including soldiers, police officers, customs, and immigration officials. This comes after controversial comments he made concerning security agents during the 66th Annual General Conference of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA).

VeryDarkMan conveyed his regret in a video published on Friday, September 4, following a period of reflection on his conference address. In his initial speech, while discussing the nation's insecurity challenges, he had collectively referred to military, police, immigration, and customs personnel as “unknown gunmen.” He acknowledged that this blanket statement was unfair to security operatives who are actively risking their lives to safeguard Nigerians, highlighting the specific sacrifices made by soldiers engaged in combating Boko Haram and other threats.

He clarified that his intention behind the criticism was to highlight alleged corruption, acts of sabotage, and information leaks by certain individuals within the security agencies, rather than to disparage the entire collective. However, he admitted that the manner in which he presented his point constituted a generalisation that could inadvertently diminish the profound sacrifices of security personnel who have died in the line of duty.

VeryDarkMan stated, “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. 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 further extended his apology directly to the Chief of Defence Staff and other heads of security formations, requesting that his remorse be communicated to all personnel, especially those serving in challenging and perilous environments. “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. 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 concluded.