Deji Adeyanju, the legal counsel to social media activist influencer, Martins Otse, also known as VeryDarkMan, has raised an alarm over the alleged detention of his client by the Nigeria Police Force after he honoured their invitation for questioning over his illegal use of the police uniform in a video.
VDM was invited by the police on Wednesday over the use of a police uniform with the rank of a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP) in a video where he called himself the CSP of the force’s online division.
Following the invitation, VDM took to social media to tender a public apology, claiming he did not know it was a crime to use the police uniform without permission.
In the apology he posted on Thursday, VeryDarkMan advised the public to seek permission before using police or any law enforcement uniforms, as some might use them for good, while others might exploit them for nefarious purposes.
He also cautioned fellow content creators to obtain necessary clearance from law enforcement before using similar uniforms for content purposes.
“I’m back from the police station which was back and forth. They brought me in based on a post I made where I said I was a CSP of an online division,” he said in the video.”
“A lot of discussion happened, interrogation and I found out some things. You know we learn every day. I made my video and I said CSP. In my own interpretation, what I meant was Chief Social Media Person.”
“However, the Nigeria Police have a rank called CSP which means Chief Superintendent of Police. And also, they said the uniform I was wearing is similar to the Nigeria Police.”
“That if at all you want to use a uniform that is similar to that of the Nigeria Police, you have to seek permission, which I didn’t know all these. It looked as if I was cajoling the Nigeria Police which was never my intention.”
“I want to make a formal apology to the Nigeria Police. Of course I cannot caricature you. Without you, who is going to protect us?”
“I tender my unreserved apologies to the Nigeria police force and the office of the inspector general of police.”
“And also, I will like to use the medium to tell the general public to always seek permission from the police or other law enforcement agencies before using anything that might look like their uniform.”
“You might want to use it for good but there are others that might want to use it for bad, so it’s good to get full approval before using anything that might seem impersonating the Nigeria Police Force,” he had said.
But in a post on his Facebook page on Thursday night, Adeyanju stated that after his interrogation, VDM was arrested and detained by the police.
“Our client, VDM has been detained after honouring police invitation just like yesterday. VDM has been consistent in saying the Nigerian Police are our friends even when we all know they are not,” the lawyer wrote.
