Farotimi: Fix Nigeria’s justice system or expect more ‘VDMs’

Human rights lawyer Dele Farotimi has said the rise of social media activist Martins Otse, popularly called VeryDarkMan (VDM), is a symptom of the failures of Nigeria’s judicial and law enforcement institutions.

Farotimi spoke in a YouTube video shared on Saturday while weighing in on the controversy generated by VeryDarkMan’s appearance at the Nigerian Bar Association’s 66th Annual General Conference in Port Harcourt.

The activist and lawyer argued that a properly functioning justice system would leave little room for individuals to assume the kind of alternative justice-seeking role that VDM has come to occupy.

“A society that has law and order, that is ruled by law, that has a functional police system, a functional court system, would not even tolerate the presence or existence of a VDM,” Farotimi said.

Rather than treating VeryDarkMan as the source of the problem, Farotimi said Nigerians should see his emergence as evidence of deeper institutional weaknesses.

He described VDM as a product of the environment created by a justice system that many citizens no longer trust.

“VDM is merely the image in your mirror. The society you have built requires VDM to find justice,” he said.

‘VDM has become the last hope’

Farotimi rejected the familiar claim that Nigeria’s judiciary represents the last hope of the common man.

“They say the judiciary is the last hope of the common man. Nah, lie. VDM has become the last hope of the common man in the society that you built. Shame on all of you,” he said.

According to him, the growing popularity of social media figures who intervene in disputes is a warning that Nigerians are increasingly looking outside established institutions for justice and redress.

He predicted that more people could assume similar roles if the government failed to rebuild confidence in the justice system.

“The society you built requires VDM to do justice. Very soon there will be multiplicities of VDM in the society that you have built,” Farotimi warned.

He said the situation could become significantly more dangerous if institutional failures continue unchecked.

“If the courts are useless, the VDMs of this world will emerge. And if you think VDM is the end of it, that’s the best you’re going to get. The ones who will come after, some of them will come behind him and they will carry guns to enforce their laws,” he stated.

Farotimi: Look in the mirror

The human rights lawyer urged Nigerians and the authorities to focus on the condition of the institutions responsible for justice instead of making VeryDarkMan the sole focus of the current controversy.

He argued that the popularity of VDM was not accidental but developed over time as public dissatisfaction with formal institutions grew.

“The reality of the matter is that, look very well in that mirror. Look well in the mirror that is being held up for you. If you have built a society where the truth has become an offence, it is because the law does not rule that society,” Farotimi said.

He also criticised the reaction to VeryDarkMan’s participation at the NBA conference, saying the controversy presented an opportunity to examine why social media personalities increasingly attract Nigerians seeking help with grievances.

“It didn’t happen overnight. It didn’t happen by accident. We didn’t stumble into this. We allowed it,” he said.

VDM’s NBA controversy

VeryDarkMan had criticised the legal profession after participating in a panel on insecurity at the NBA’s 66th Annual General Conference in Port Harcourt.

The activist defended his presence at the conference amid criticism of his invitation, saying he attended to speak on behalf of poor Nigerians and people without a voice.

He later took aim at the legal profession, arguing that law had ceased to be a noble profession.

VDM also questioned the economic prospects of lawyers in Nigeria, describing law as one of the country’s “broke” professions and asking how many lawyers could obtain meaningful employment.

Farotimi’s intervention comes amid the wider debate over VDM’s growing influence and the role of social media personalities in addressing grievances traditionally handled by the police, courts and other public institutions.

He maintained that addressing the underlying crisis requires collective action, institutional reform and a justice system capable of restoring public confidence—not efforts to silence individual voices.

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