Nigerian social media influencer, Martins Vincent Otse, known widely as VeryDarkMan (VDM), has been arrested by the Nigerian police in Abuja.
The arrest reportedly followed a protest he made at an Abuja branch of the Guaranty Trust Bank (GTBank) over alleged unauthorized deductions from his mother’s account.
His lawyer, Barrister Deji Adeyanju, confirmed the development on Twitter on Friday, revealing that officers of the Nigeria Police Force apprehended VeryDarkMan at the bank in Area 3 in Abuja.
The incident reportedly stemmed from VDM’s public criticism of GTBank regarding repeated unauthorised debits from his mother’s account, which he had taken to the bank to address.
Prior to his arrest, VDM had shared a statement on social media outlining his visit to the bank.
He wrote, “Myself and my mom just arrived GT-BANK to get an explanation for the constant debit from her account from gt bank in the name of loan repayments that she never took,in this year alone see the amount of time she has been debited with different amounts,we have requested her bank statements so we know when they debiting started so far in this year alone there have been more than 7 debits on loan repayments,GT BANK STAFF ARE COOPERATING,hopefully we know why they keep doing this.”
The Nigerian activist and lawyer later confirmed the internet influencer was being held by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Adeyanju, who is VDM’s lawyer, in an update shared on Friday via X, revealed that his legal team had visited the EFCC facility where VDM is being detained.
He tweeted, “VDM DETAINED AT EFCC: Our lawyers led by the Head of our firm @Marvin_Omorogbe just met VDM’s friend who was arrested together with him in EFCC custody. VDM refused to come out of the cell; that he won’t see anyone.
“VDM was locked inside the GTB exit door for over 5mins to enable EFCC arrest him and his friend. We will be taking legal actions against GTB for the inhumane treatment meted out to our client. We will issue a public statement soon.”
