On Thursday 15th day of May, 2025, the police brought back controversial social media personality Martins Otse, who is better known as VeryDarkMan, to the Federal High Court in Abuja. He’s facing accusations of having engaged in cyberbullying against several Nollywood actresses, including Iyabo Ojo and Tonto Dikeh.
Additionally, Otse is also charged with cyberbullying Nigerian producer and musician Samuel Oguachuba, commonly referred to as Samklef, among others.
During the re-arraignment led by Justice Musa Liman, he faced five separate charges, to which he entered a plea of not guilty. It’s worth noting that Otse’s initial arraignment took place on May 22, 2024, before Justice Mobolaji Olajuwon, concerning similar charges that fall under Section 24 of the Cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Act of 2015.
Following his remand, he was granted bail on June 10, 2024, set at ₦10 million, with conditions requiring two sureties—either employed by reputable organizations or serving as Level 17 officers in the federal civil service, along with documentation of three years’ tax clearance.
The case, identified as FHC/ABJ/CR/140/2024 and filed on March 28, 2024, was reassigned to Justice Liman after Justice Olajuwon moved to a different division of the Federal High Court.
The first count alleges that on or around October 13, 2023, VDM published a video on Instagram (@verydarkblackman) with threatening and bullying language directed at Samuel Oguachuba.
In a related matter, the second count claims that on or about October 29, 2023, he shared videos via the same Instagram handle that contained highly offensive and obscene remarks about Iyabo Ojo, alleging in one of the videos that “one Iyabo Ojo is having an indecent sexual relationship with her daughter.”
The third charge involves an accusation from January 19, 2024, where VDM allegedly stated that “King Tonto Dikeh is involved in the criminal conversion of the proceeds from the crowdfunding for the Justice for Mobbad Movement and is the person behind the Gistlover blog.”
A fourth accusation states that on March 19, 2024, the defendant shared videos with disrespectful comments about Deputy Inspectors General of Police and members of the National Assembly.
Following his re-arraignment, VDM’s lawyer, Deji Adeyanju, appealed to allow his client to continue under the same bail conditions established by Justice Olajuwon. There was no opposition from the police counsel, Victor Okoye.
Justice Liman accepted the previous bail conditions and postponed the trial until July 24, 2025.
