Popular activist Vincent Otse, also known as VeryDarkMan, has appeared in the Lagos High Court for the hearing of the defamation suit brought against him by Senior Advocate of Nigeria Femi Falana and his son, Folarin, popularly known as Falz.
News About Nigeria had earlier reported that VeryDarkMan, in a leaked video purportedly made by Idris Okuneye, popularly known as Bobrisky, made some remarks about the role allegedly played by Falana in Bobrisky’s attempt to secure amnesty while in prison custody.
Following this, the Falanas dragged the defendant before the court in separate suits, claiming N500 million each as damages over a video he posted on his social media platforms, alleging that they collected N10 million from Bobrisky to prevent justice.
In their suits, the father and son submitted that the defendant knew all his comments were unverified and false, yet he proceeded to publish them, recklessly injuring their reputation.
They also stated that the alleged defamatory publication is still trending on the defendant’s online handles and pages, and as such, the injury to their reputation continues as long as the publication remains online.
In his ruling on the ex parte application filed along with the substantive suit, Justice Dawodu ordered VeryDarkMan, his agents, and any associates to remove the defamatory videos and comments posted on September 24, 2024, from all his social media platforms.
The judge also restrained VeryDarkMan from further publishing any defamatory content against Falana.
“The defendant, his agents, and privies are hereby restrained from further releasing, publishing, or circulating any defamatory videos/comments about the applicant and to remove the defamatory video/comments about the applicant published on September 24, 2024, from all his online social media handles/pages pending compliance with the pre-action protocol of this court.
“Leave is hereby granted to the applicant to serve the pre-action bundles, originating processes, and all other court processes between parties herein on the defendant by substituted means through his lawyer, Deji Adeyanju.
“The applicant must file and serve the pre-action bundles, originating processes, and other accompanying processes on the defendant within 14 days from today. The order in paragraph 1 above shall lapse after 21 days from today,” the judge ruled.
