Social media influencer and activist Martins Otse, also known as VeryDarkMan, has clarified why he was invited to the Nigerian Bar Association’s ongoing 2026 Annual General Conference.
VeryDarkMan claimed this on Tuesday while speaking as a panelist at the conference in Port Harcourt, Rivers State’s capital.
In his remarks, VeryDarkMan emphasized that, while he was not invited to instruct the law professionals on legal matters, he believes his extensive experience covering insecurity concerns in the country speaks for itself.
“There has been a lot of debate about why I was invited to this NBA conference. I’m not here to teach you people law; I’m here to share experience,” he said.
“This is not a topic of ‘may I, my lord’ because your lords are being kidnapped,” he stated, as he recalled an incident of the reported abduction of a judge traveling from Sokoto State, whom he said was kidnapped in Kebbi on July 26 and remained in captivity for about a week before being released.
He condemned media organizations for not making enough coverage of the killings perpetrated by these assailants.
“When the killings happened, our media are now lazy, and they do not really cover these killings and the results of these unknown gunmen,” he said.
Speaking about the June 13, 2025, attack on Yelwata in Guma Local Government Area of Benue State, which purportedly killed more than 200 people and destroyed properties worth millions of naira, VeryDarkMan claimed,
“I was the first respondent at Yelwata. I was also the first respondent when some women were killed some time ago. I’ve seen blood and seen people burnt alive.
“In Yelwata, it was Fulani that attacked. It was a retaliation because a Fulani boy was killed and these guys came back to attack.”
In February 2026, a prosecution witness at the Federal High Court in Abuja stated that disgruntled Fulani chiefs arranged for over 200 armed men with AK-47 rifles to carry out the Yelwata attack.
Moses Paul, a team leader with the Nigeria Police Force’s Intelligence Response Team, testified in the trial of nine suspects charged in the state.
