By Damilare Adeleye
Controversial social media critic, Martin Otse, popularly known as VeryDarkMan, has been ordered by the Lagos State High Court, to remove defamatory comments and videos concerning lawyer and human rights activist, Femi Falana (SAN) and his son, Folarin, better known as Falz.
The court also directed him to pay ₦500 million to them for libel, as stated in the pre-action bundle of the judgment.Justice M. O. Idowu gave this order while ruling on suit no: ID/8584/GCM/2024, on Tuesday.
According to him, the publications made by VeryDarkMan on his social media accounts on September 24, 2024, linking Bobrisky to Falz and his father, were defamatory and injurious to their public image.
Dawodu stated, “According to the applicants (Falz and Falana), the defendant (VeryDarkMan) knew these statements (Bobrisky’s claims) were false and untrue but proceeded to publish them to injure their reputation.
“Furthermore, the defamatory statements are still trending on the defendant (VeryDarkMan)’s several online platforms and the injury to their reputation continues as long as the publication remains online.”
The case centered around defamatory remarks and videos posted by VeryDarkMan on September 24, 2024, linking the Falana family to controversial internet senation, Bobrisky over presidential pardon.
The court found the statements to be defamatory and damaging to the public image of both Femi Falana and his son.