By Daniel Oluwatobiloba Popoola
The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has presented a recognition award to social media influencer, Martins Otse, popularly known as VeryDarkMan, during its ongoing 2026 Annual General Conference in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
The award was presented to Otse on Tuesday, 25 August, 2026 after he featured as a panellist at the conference, where he shared his experiences on insecurity and other issues affecting the country.
Presenting the award, the session’s moderator, speaking on behalf of the NBA president and members, commended Otse for honouring the invitation and sharing his experiences with participants.
“On behalf of the president and members of the Nigeria Association, I present this award to be here with us and share your own experience. But please, when you are attacked, don’t kill. Report to the police,” the moderator said.
It had earlier been reported that Otse clarified the reason for his invitation to the conference, explaining that he was not invited to lecture lawyers on legal matters but to share his experiences. “There has been a lot of debate about why I was invited to this NBA conference. I’m not here to teach you people law; I’m here to share experience,” he said.
Speaking during the session, the social media influencer expressed concern over insecurity in the country and criticised what he described as inadequate media coverage of killings. “This is not a topic of ‘may I, my lord’ because your lords are being kidnapped,” he stated, recalling the reported abduction of a judge travelling from Sokoto State, who he said was kidnapped in Kebbi State on 26 July and released about a week later.
Otse went further to criticise media organisations for what he termed insufficient coverage of attacks and killings linked to insecurity.
“When the killings happened, our media are now lazy, and they do not really cover these killings and the results of these unknown gunmen,” he said.
Turning to the 13 June 2025 attack on Yelwata in Guma Local Government Area of Benue State, which was reported to have killed more than 200 people and destroyed property worth millions of naira, Otse disclosed that he had personally witnessed the aftermath of violent attacks.
“I was the first respondent at Yelwata. I was also the first respondent when some women were killed some time ago. I’ve seen blood and seen people burnt alive. In Yelwata, it was Fulani that attacked. It was a retaliation because a Fulani boy was killed and these guys came back to attack,” he said.
His comments on the Yelwata attack came amid ongoing court proceedings over the incident.
A prosecution witness, Moses Paul, a team leader with the Intelligence Response Team of the Nigeria Police Force, had earlier told the Federal High Court in Abuja in February 2026 that some disgruntled Fulani chiefs sponsored more than 200 armed men to carry out the attack.
Otse’s appearance at the NBA conference has since attracted public attention, with the influencer maintaining that his invitation was based on his experiences and advocacy on insecurity rather than legal expertise.
