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Human rights lawyer, Dele Farotimi said activists in the mould of Martins Otse popularly known as VeryDarkMan (VDM) would continue to spring up as long as the nation’s judicial system remained weak.
Farotimi made the assertion in a video shared on YouTube over the weekend.
He was weighing in on the controversy generated by the invitation of VDM to the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA)’s 66th Annual General Conference recently held in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
According to him, VDM has emerged as a strong voice for the downtrodden because of the failures of the courts, the police and other institutions.
The lawyer said, “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.”
Farotimi said VDM is a reflection of the inadequacies within Nigeria’s justice system, arguing that efforts to silence or attack the activist would not address the problems that created the conditions for his popularity.
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“VDM is merely the image in your mirror. The society you have built requires VDM to find justice,” Farotimi said.
He stressed that the judiciary is increasingly showing itself incapable of commanding the masses’ trust.
“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,” he said.
Farotimi observed that the emergence of more VDMs remains inevitable until the justice system is revamped to become truly just.
“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,” Farotimi warned.
