The Pacesetter Frontier Magazine

Tag: VDM

  • VDM Apologises to Security Agencies Over ‘Unknown Gunmen’ Remarks

    VDM Apologises to Security Agencies Over ‘Unknown Gunmen’ Remarks

    Social media activist Martins Vincent Otse, popularly known as VeryDarkMan, has apologised to soldiers, policemen, customs and immigration personnel over his controversial remarks at the Nigerian Bar Association’s 66th Annual General Conference.

    Otse, in a video shared on Friday, said he had reflected on his speech and realised that he was unfair to security personnel who were genuinely risking their lives to protect Nigerians.

    The activist had, while speaking at the conference in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, described the military, police, immigration and customs personnel as “unknown gunmen” in his discussion on insecurity.

    However, in Friday’s video, Otse said his remarks were not intended to accuse all security personnel of involvement in criminal activities.

    “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.

    “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.

    He said he was particularly concerned about soldiers fighting Boko Haram and other threats in the bushes.

    “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,” he said.

    Otse said his intention was to draw attention to alleged corruption and sabotage by some personnel within the security agencies.

    “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 said.

    He, however, admitted that the way he presented his argument made it appear as though he was generalising.

    “But by passing that speech, like I said, it seems like I was generalising and it’s not fair to the fallen soldiers,” he said.

    Otse subsequently apologised to the Chief of Defence Staff and the leadership of the security agencies.

    “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,” he said.

    He also apologised to the police, customs and immigration authorities, as well as the families of fallen security personnel.

    “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.

    The activist maintained that there were still “a lot of good people” within the security agencies despite his allegations against some personnel.

    “Yes, a lot of bad eggs there, like I said, a lot of bad eggs, a lot of them are there.

    “A lot of corrupt generals, a lot of high-ranking police officers are corrupt, a lot of junior officers are corrupt, a lot of them are there. But there’s still a lot of more good people, a lot of more good people, and I know a lot of them,” he said.

    Otse said he feared his comments could discourage a soldier fighting in the bush who came across the video.

    “Imagine a soldier fighting in the bush and he watches VDM’s video, and he’s like, ‘Ah, VDM is one of us now, unknown gunman.’ That would discourage him, to be honest,” he said.

    The activist, who has previously spoken about alleged misconduct by security personnel, said his relationship with some policemen had also exposed him to the challenges facing the force.

    “Me and police, we work steady. I give, sometimes I share police information, tell them, ‘Oh, this is what is happening here, please, can you intercept,” he said.

    He urged security personnel who were genuinely protecting the country not to be discouraged by his comments.

    “And please don’t be discouraged, please, please, don’t be discouraged.

    “We’re there behind you now, and we’ll always support you. You know, and we are part of this thing, security is for all of us,” he said.

    Otse, however, maintained his warning to personnel allegedly involved in sabotage, arms supply and leaking information to terrorists.

    “But then again, to the bad eggs, your days are numbered.

    “To all of you in the military that are sabotaging and causing deaths to your officers, your days are numbered,” he said.

    The apology comes amid controversy over Otse’s appearance at the NBA conference, where his participation and comments generated criticism.

    Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana, had rejected the defence of Otse’s role at the conference and called for experienced speakers to handle specialised discussions at the event.

    Otse subsequently responded to critics by defending his invitation to the conference and explaining why he was invited to speak.

    He later mocked the backlash by appearing in a lawyer’s wig and gown in a video.

    His latest apology also comes after a separate controversy over his claims that some police officers at checkpoints allegedly pass information about wealthy travellers to kidnappers.

    The police had challenged him to provide evidence for the allegation, while Otse responded by daring the authorities to charge him to court, saying he would present his evidence.

    In Friday’s video, however, Otse stressed that his criticism of alleged misconduct should not be interpreted as hostility towards the security agencies as a whole.

    “I actually know more than the people I was trying to communicate with, so it was not really communicated properly,” he said.

    He concluded by urging Nigerians to support security personnel genuinely fighting to protect the country.

    “And to the patriots, to the heroes, to our fallen heroes that have died to protect this country… I am really, really sorry.

    “Keep on fighting for our beloved country, God bless all of you. We Nigerians are with you,” he said. Punch

  • In Praise of the Ratels

    In Praise of the Ratels

    -By Abdul Mahmud

    The Nigerian virtual space was recently been filled with striking images. Young persons and the old, teenagers in-between. Men and women who turned up with brooms, buckets, hoes, machetes, brushes, paint, and resolve in pursuit of social good. Streets were swept. Drainages cleared. Dilapidated school walls were repainted. Public spaces long abandoned to neglect were touched again by human care. The question many asked was simple. Who are these people?

    They are the Ratels.

    They are followers of the social media activist and celebrity, Martins Vincent Otse, widely known as Very Dark Man. But to describe them merely as followers would be to miss the point. What we are witnessing is not fandom. It is civic action. It is collective labour. It is shared responsibility returning to the public square. The Ratels have offered Nigerians something rare in these times. An example. Not a sermon. Not a press statement. Not a state policy paper. An example in motion. Their work speaks in the language of action. Clean streets. Schools reclaimed from neglect. Reclaimed public spaces. This is the grammar of democratic citizenship made visible.

    Otse and the Ratels deserve to be praised for this intervention. Not because they discovered something new, but because they reminded us of something old and hallowed that we allowed to fade into oblivion. The ethics of communal labour of love. The spirit of mutual aid. The understanding that a country is sustained not only by those who govern it but by the citizens. Long before the modern Nigerian-state came into existence, empires, kingdoms and chiefdoms organised life around collective responsibility. Communities built together. They farmed together. They repaired roads together. They cleaned the shared villages’ squares together. This was not charity. It was belonging. To live in a community was to owe it labour, time, tenderness, love and care.

    These practices were known by many names across the continent. They varied by language and culture, but they shared a single moral core. In the Etsako provenance of this writer, it was called and it is still called Mha’kugbe. Let’s join up together, literally. No one was left alone with a burden that belonged to all. When a roof collapsed, neighbours gathered. When a path was overgrown, the village cleared it. When shrines decayed, hands appeared without invitation. This was democracy before the ballot box arrived. Not democracy as an abstract ideal, but democracy as participation. Citizenship was not a document. It was conduct. It was performance.

    The Ratels have unconsciously returned us to this past. Not as nostalgia, but as practice. They have shown that modern citizenship does not require waiting for government permission. It requires initiatives. It requires a sense of ownership over shared spaces. It requires the courage to act without applause.

    Their actions also echo another powerful historical tradition. Mutual aid societies.

    Across Africa, the Caribbean, and working class communities worldwide, mutual aid societies sustained life long before welfare states emerged. They organised burial funds. They supported widows. They helped the sick. They pooled resources to solve common problems. They did this quietly, efficiently, and with dignity. These societies were not built on ideology. They were built on need and solidarity. They understood something essential. Survival is collective. Dignity is shared. The Ratels stand firmly in this historical lineage. Their work is unpaid. Their labour is voluntary. Their reward is not money, but meaning. In a society where public discourse often celebrates what many now rightly describes as “wealth without work” and influence without service, this matters deeply. What they have done is to reframe activism. Too often activism is reduced to outrage alone. Outrage has its place. Anger can expose injustice. But outrage without repair leaves spaces broken. The Ratels have chosen repair. They have chosen to clean, paint, and rebuild.

    This choice carries democratic significance. Democracy is not sustained by elections alone. It is sustained by habits. Habits of care. Habits of responsibility. Habits of showing up. When citizens clean streets together, they learn cooperation. When they repair schools together, they affirm the value of education. When they reclaim public spaces, they reject abandonment as a destiny. These are civic lessons no classroom can teach as effectively. There is a moral clarity in sweeping the streets. Humility in painting a classroom wall. These acts restore dignity not only to spaces but to those who perform them. The public space matters because people matter. The Ratels have also challenged the culture of spectatorship. Social media often turns citizens into observers of decay. We film potholes. We record collapsing buildings. We circulate evidence of failure. The Ratels have moved from documentation to intervention. They have crossed the Rubicon between seeing and doing, into quarters mobilised by verbs and new shifts. These shifts matter.  No country can be rebuilt by commentary alone. It requires hands. It requires sweat. It requires citizens willing to act without waiting for the perfect conditions. There is also something quietly radical about their inclusiveness. The images show no hierarchy. Old and young work side by side. Men and women share tasks. There is no division of labour based on status. Everyone contributes what they can. This is equality practiced, not proclaimed.

    The Ratels offer hope without slogans in the time of cynicism. In the time of fragmentation, they remind us that democracy is a lived experience. It lives in how we treat shared spaces. It lives in whether we see public schools as ours or as nobody’s. It lives in whether we act when we see decay or merely complain. In the time of noise, they stand at the intersection of communal tradition and modern civic activism. They show that the past is not dead. It waits to be reactivated. They show that citizenship can be joyful. That service can be communal. That democracy can be practiced with brooms and paint, not only with speeches. They have work quietly. They practice unity of purpose publicly. This is why they deserve praise. Not excessive praise. Not romanticisation. But recognition.

    In praising Otse and the Ratels, one must be clear. This is not about personality worship. It is about civic inspiration. Leadership in this sense is not command. It is example. Otse has provided the spark. The Ratels have become the fire. Their work should challenge governments, but it should also challenge other citizens. The state must provide infrastructure and services. That obligation does not disappear. But citizenship does not end where government responsibility begins. Both can coexist. Both must. Salute to the Ratels. Salute to shared action in pursuit of the common social good. Salute to the Very Dark Man whose surname, Otse, carries the meaning of beauty. May that meaning find full expression in his life and labour; and may the grace of his works endure in its purest form, untouched by distortion, undimmed by time, and revealed in its natural brilliance.

    In the hands of the Ratels, the past has returned, not as memory, but as a living practice.