By Afolayan Sunday
Following intense backlash from legal heavyweights over his appearance at the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Annual General Conference—most notably Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) Femi Falana—Martins Vincent Otse, popularly known as VeryDarkMan (VDM), has fired back, insisting that his invitation was merited by practical field experience rather than academic textbooks.
VDM featured as a panelist during a session titled “Known Gunmen or Unknown Gunmen” at the NBA’s 66th Annual General Conference held in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
Following the development, Falana strongly criticized the leadership of the NBA for extending the platform to VDM.
Speaking during a television interview, Falana argued that the association’s prestigious conferences were being reduced to a “circus show”.
”In those days, the NBA brought individuals who had paid their dues, who were coming to engage lawyers intellectually. We wanted to learn from them, and so none of our conferences was a circus show in the past,” Falana stated.
Reacting, VDM, in a video shared on his social media page on Friday, said Falana’s remarks had made it clearer to him why some people were opposed to his invitation to the conference.
Describing the issue as “classism”, VDM said he believed his invitation had been questioned because of his background and status compared with those attending the conference.
“The problem these people have is that the son of a nobody was invited to come and speak where elites are seated,” he said.
He said he was particularly disappointed by Falana’s reason for questioning his invitation, arguing that his experience of insecurity qualified him to contribute to discussions on the subject.
He added: “Lately, in the last few years, I have been present where all these things have happened. I have seen things that a lot of security experts have not seen. This is not about a book. It’s not about a book. It’s about experience.
“Security is for everybody. Security is not for some set of people. And this has been the problem.”
The activist said his presence at the conference was aimed at drawing attention to the experiences of ordinary Nigerians affected by insecurity.
“I spoke on behalf of the poor masses. I spoke on behalf of the poor people. I spoke on behalf of the people that don’t have a voice,” he said.
Otse said he had not expected Falana to take the position he expressed on his invitation.
“I wasn’t expecting this angle from Femi Falana SAN, but well, it is what it is,” he said.
