VDM Retracts ‘Unknown Gunmen’ Label, Apologises To Nigeria’s Security Personnel
Social media commentator Martins Vincent Otse, popularly known as VeryDarkMan (VDM), has withdrawn his controversial description of members of Nigeria’s security agencies as “unknown gunmen”, admitting that the sweeping remark was unfair to personnel serving the country.
Otse, who spoke in a video posted on his social media platforms on Saturday, said his comments at the 66th Annual General Conference of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) were not intended to portray every soldier, police officer, customs officer or immigration official as being involved in criminal activities.
According to him, a subsequent reflection on the speech made him realise that his choice of words had gone beyond the specific concerns he was attempting to raise.
“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.
Otse acknowledged that security personnel routinely operate under difficult conditions and risk their lives in the course of protecting citizens, saying such sacrifices deserved recognition even where there were concerns about the conduct of some individuals within the security system.
He explained that his original statement was driven by what he claimed was evidence supporting his concerns about misconduct within certain security institutions, but conceded that using a blanket description had unfairly extended the allegation to people who were not implicated.
“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.
The activist therefore tendered an apology to members of the Armed Forces, the Nigeria Police Force and personnel of the Nigeria Customs Service and Nigeria Immigration Service who may have felt insulted or wrongly portrayed by his remarks.
His latest position represents a retreat from the sweeping characterisation that generated controversy following his appearance at the NBA conference, where he spoke on issues surrounding insecurity, governance and the conduct of public institutions.
While maintaining that he has concerns about alleged wrongdoing involving some security personnel, Otse sought to draw a distinction between raising allegations against individuals or specific cases and indicting entire security institutions.
