Social media activist Martins Vincent Otse, popularly known as VeryDarkMan, has apologised to Nigeria’s military, police and other security agencies after describing their personnel as “unknown gunmen” during a panel discussion at the Nigerian Bar Association’s annual conference.
In a video posted on his Facebook page on Friday, Otse said he had reflected on his remarks and concluded he had been unfair to many officers who risk their lives protecting the country.
He specifically regretted comments that grouped the military, police, Nigeria Immigration Service and Nigeria Customs Service with the criminal groups known as “unknown gunmen.” He also acknowledged the pain his words may have caused families of security personnel who have died in service.
“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.
Otse insisted he still stands by claims of corruption and sabotage within the security forces, saying he has evidence of “bad eggs.” However, he accepted that his original wording amounted to an unfair generalisation.
“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 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.”
He directed a particular apology to the Chief of Defence Staff and asked that it be passed on to troops on the front lines. Otse said his intention had been to highlight internal sabotage and information leaks rather than to discourage genuine officers.
At the same time, he repeated a warning to those he believes are involved in criminal activity: “To the bad eggs, your days are numbered.”
The comments were made during a panel session at the 66th Annual General Conference of the Nigerian Bar Association in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. Otse also alleged that some police officers at checkpoints pass information about travellers to kidnappers and terrorists. The police later invited him to substantiate the claims.
Otse said he continues to work with the police on security matters and urged honest officers not to be discouraged by his earlier remarks. No further official response from the security agencies to the apology has been reported.
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