Controversial social media personality Martins Vincent Otse, widely known as VeryDarkMan, has apologised for remarks he made about Nigeria’s security agencies during the Nigerian Bar Association’s annual conference.
The activist, speaking in a video released on Friday, said he had reconsidered his comments and accepted that his description of security personnel as “unknown gunmen” was too broad.
Otse made the controversial remark while addressing the issue of insecurity at the NBA’s 66th Annual General Conference in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
His comments appeared to lump together personnel from the military, police, immigration and customs services.
Days later, however, the activist said he recognised that such a generalisation failed to distinguish between officers allegedly involved in misconduct and those genuinely putting their lives on the line to defend the country.
He particularly singled out soldiers fighting Boko Haram and other threats in remote areas, noting that many had died while carrying out their duties.
According to Otse, his criticism was actually aimed at individuals within the security system whom he believes may be involved in corruption, leaking sensitive information or sabotaging security operations.
He said his intention was to encourage security authorities to identify and address such individuals rather than discourage legitimate security personnel.
Otse acknowledged that his delivery at the conference did not sufficiently make that distinction.
He said the statement was therefore unfair to many officers and soldiers, including those who had lost their lives in the line of duty.
“I don’t think it’s fair to say they are also the unknown gunmen,” he said, while acknowledging the sacrifices made by security personnel.
The apology comes as Otse maintains that his concerns about alleged misconduct within security institutions remain, but says those concerns should not be used to condemn personnel who are genuinely serving the nation.
