Social media critic and activist, Martin Otse, widely known as VeryDarkMan, has been remanded in police custody pending his next court hearing, scheduled for Wednesday next week.
Otse appeared at the Federal High Court in Abuja on Wednesday to face five counts of cyberstalking involving the Nigeria Police and Nollywood actresses Iyabo Ojo and Tonto Dikeh, to which he pleaded not guilty.
During the arraignment, Otse’s lawyer, Deji Adeyanju, applied for bail.
However, the police prosecution team requested additional time to respond to the application, prompting Justice Mobolaji Olajuwon to adjourn the bail hearing to May 29.
The prosecution initially sought to have Otse remanded in prison custody, but his lawyers successfully argued for his remand in police custody instead.
Consequently, Otse was taken to the National Cybercrime Centre.
The charges against Otse are severe and detailed.
The first count alleges that on October 29, 2023, he posted a video on his Instagram handle ‘verydarkblackman’ containing offensive, pornographic, or menacing information, falsely accusing Iyabo Ojo of having an indecent sexual relationship with her daughter.
This action, according to the charge, violated Section 24 (1)(a) of the Cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) Act, 2015.
The second count pertains to a video posted on January 19, 2024, where Otse falsely accused King Tonto Dikeh of criminal conversion of crowdfunding proceeds and being behind the Gistlover blog.
This post is intended to cause annoyance, inconvenience, and other harm, violating Section 24 (1)(b) of the Cybercrime Act.
The third count involves a video posted on March 19, 2024, in which Otse alleged that senior police officers and lawmakers were involved in sexual activities with Bobrisky.
The charge states that this post was intended to cause annoyance, inconvenience, and other harm, again violating Section 24 (1)(b) of the Cybercrime Act.
The fourth and fifth counts, also based on videos posted on March 19, 2024, accuse Otse of claiming that Bobrisky was pimping young boys to senators and senior police officers.
These statements were similarly intended to cause annoyance, inconvenience, and other harm, further violating Section 24 (1)(b) of the Cybercrime Act.
The charges outline:
“That you, Martins Vincent Otse (A.K.A. VERYDARKBLACKMAN) ‘M’, 29 YRS of Supreme Court Estate Karu, Abuja on or about 19th March 2024, in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court knowingly and intentionally posted videos, by means of computer system on your Instagram handle ‘verydarkblackman’, containing information which you know or had reasons to believe to be false.”
