Human rights lawyer and activist Dele Farotimi has said social media activist Martins Vincent Otse, popularly known as VeryDarkMan, has effectively replaced the judiciary as the hope of the common man in Nigeria.
Farotimi made the remark while reacting to the controversy over VeryDarkMan’s invitation to the Nigerian Bar Association’s 66th Annual General Conference in Port Harcourt.
In a video uploaded on YouTube on Saturday, the activist argued that VeryDarkMan’s growing influence was a reflection of Nigerians’ declining confidence in the country’s justice system.
Farotimi said the emergence of individuals who take on roles associated with exposing wrongdoing and seeking redress would be unlikely in a society where the police and courts function effectively.
“A society that has law and order, that is ruled by law, that has a functional police system, a functional court system, would not even tolerate the presence or existence of a VDM. VDM is the life indictment of a judicial system that is essentially peopled by crooks in the place of jurists. That’s what VDM is.
“It represents a type, a type that has been tolerated, mollified because of the failure of the system.”
He described VeryDarkMan as a reflection of the wider problems within Nigerian society, arguing that criticism of the activist would not address the institutional failures that had contributed to his popularity.
“The reality is that you are the one who has to do something to fix the image in the mirror. VDM is merely the image in your mirror. The society you have built requires VDM to find justice.
“It’s easier to find justice through the types and likes of VDM than through your courts. They say the judiciary is the last hope of the common man. Nah, lie.
“VDM has become the last hope of the common man in the society that you built. Shame on all of you. And not just the lawyers or the judges, but the entire society that has made this possible.”
Farotimi further warned that the situation could produce more figures operating outside traditional institutions if the underlying grievances remained unresolved.
“The society you built requires VDM to do justice. Very soon there will be multiplicities of VDM in the society that you have built. And if you have not noticed, there are already copycat VDMs springing up.
“Because the society requires VDM to find justice. How much of a shameful society have we built? Or shall I say shameless society?”
According to him, the development should be viewed as an indication that Nigeria’s institutions were failing to meet the expectations of citizens.
“If the courts are useless, the VDMs of this world will emerge. And if you think VDM is the end of it, that’s the best you’re going to get. The ones who will come after, some of them will come behind him and they will carry guns to enforce their laws.”
He urged Nigerians to look beyond VeryDarkMan and confront the institutional weaknesses that had created the conditions for alternative sources of justice to gain public acceptance.
“The reality of the matter is that, look very well in that mirror. Look well in the mirror that is being held up for you. If you have built a society where the truth has become an offense, it is because the law does not rule that society.
“In societies where the law rules, the truth is protected almost at any and all cost.”
Farotimi also said meaningful reform of the judiciary could not depend on the removal or death of individual figures, but would require collective efforts to address systemic problems.
“I wrote a book. It wasn’t about Afe Babaola. My book was about the judicial, is about the judiciary. No matter how corrupt you might deem a single person, human beings are necessarily mortals. You don’t die one day.
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“Would the death of anybody end the corruption and put refraction into the judiciary or society? No. It would take the collective determined to change our sickling reality to ever change it, if they will.”
“Would the death of anybody end the corruption and put refraction into the judiciary or society? No. It would take the collective determined to change our sickling reality to ever change it, if they will.”
He said the controversy surrounding VeryDarkMan’s invitation should instead prompt questions about why Nigerians increasingly perceive individuals such as the activist as more capable of securing justice than formal institutions.
“But the reality is that this is what Nigeria has become. If you are going to be bemoaning his invitation, ask yourself what led us to get to the point where we built a society, where justice is better assured with a VDM than your court.
“It didn’t happen overnight.
“It didn’t happen by accident. We didn’t stumble into this. We allowed it.“
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