Social media influencer, Martins Vincent Otse, popularly known as VeryDarkMan, has come under criticism from Nigerians on X after sharing documents relating to an individual who reportedly bought 1,200 units of Dangote Flour Mills shares for ₦18,000 in 2007.
VeryDarkMan shared what he described as receipts showing that the investor bought the shares at ₦15 per unit, while also highlighting dividend payments allegedly received from the investment in subsequent years.
According to the documents shared by the activist, the investor received ₦324 and ₦216 in dividends in 2009, while another document showed a dividend payment of ₦108 in 2012.
VeryDarkMan subsequently urged people who had subscribed to the ongoing Dangote Refinery initial public offering to watch the video, suggesting that the documents offered lessons for those considering the current investment.
The post, however, generated criticism from some X users, who questioned the relevance of the historical investment to the current Dangote Refinery IPO and accused the activist of discouraging people from investing.
One user, @kelz_Realist, argued that there was nothing unusual about the decline in the value of shares bought around that period, noting that the 2007–2008 global financial crisis affected investments across the Nigerian stock market.
The user wrote: “There’s nothing new here. The stock market crashed in 2007/08. I was affected. All the shares I bought from major companies, banks, insurance companies all crashed.
“As of 2007, I spent well over N1m investing in the Stock market and I got absolutely nothing from it.”
Another user, @ajokpa, questioned the expectation attached to the investment, asking: “How much were you expecting from an ₦18k investment in the capital market?”
@Fortunate0_1 also accused VeryDarkMan of attempting to discourage people from investing, writing: “E no beta for this VDM nothing he sabi na to just Dey spoil market for people Omo Werey”
Another user, @odunlamisodiq, said investors were already aware of the risks involved, writing: “Oga rest we don buy we don buy we all knows dat anything for the country na risk either it works out or not it left to us.”
@santos_sure questioned VeryDarkMan’s qualification to offer financial advice, writing: “See well educated people are collecting financial advice from an illiterate. This guy that can’t even write the English he is speaking.
“This is what you get when you give fame and popularity to stupid people”
Similarly, @EnzoXtra questioned why VeryDarkMan was focusing on Dangote, writing: “Why is he not doing this to every other stocks out there , okomu oil , zenith , gtco! Why is he hell bent on trying to bring down dangote , he has been trying to get dangote attention!
“His NGO keeps spending money he hasn’t even accounted for also !”
Another commenter, @User_047, said investors should understand that stock investments carry risks and returns are not guaranteed.
“Na Black man be Black man problem. People expecting short term return or no risk at all should do away from any kind of Stock(IPO). Stock rise and fall everywhere in the world, you shouldn’t de-market people’s business.”
@Oluwasheyi45 also questioned whether some people understood how the stock market works, writing: “Do these people understand that profit from stocks depends on how well the company is performing?😂 No be fixed inestment na😮💨 People don’t even understand the stck market.”
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