Court orders VeryDarkMan to pay Falanas N500m, delete defamatory posts

The Lagos State High Court has issued an order for the controversial social media critic Martin Otse, widely known as VeryDarkMan, to remove defamatory comments and videos related to lawyer and human rights activist Femi Falana (SAN) and his son, Folarin.

The court further ordered VeryDarkMan to pay a substantial sum of N500 million to Femi Falana and his son, Folarin, as compensation for libel, as detailed in the pre-action bundle of the judgment.

This ruling comes as part of a legal response to the allegations made by Otse, which were deemed harmful to the reputations of both Falana and his son.

The judgement was delivered by Justice M. O. Idowu in 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.”