Using the excuse that it was Easter break, the police on Sunday refused to release the social media influencer Martins Vincent Otse, better known online as VeryDarkMan.
SaharaReporters found out on Sunday that VeryDarkMan was scheduled to be freed on Easter, but the police said that because of the holiday, no one was available to handle his release.
Despite the fact that Dr. Solomon Arase, the Chairman of the Police Service Commission, had stated that the social media influencer’s lawyers could go after him, an informed source told SaharaReporters on Sunday that the Investigating Police Officers who first met on duty claimed they had not received any orders to that effect.
Later, SaharaReporters discovered that Mr. Sylvester Abiodun Alabi, the Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) of the Force Criminal Investigation Department (FCID) in Abuja, had informed the lawyers that they may pick up their client on Tuesday.
“I heard that the IPOs the lawyers initially met said they had not received any instruction to release VeryDarkMan but later when they were able to reach DIG Alabi, he said there was no one available to process the release because of the Easter break.
“So he asked them to come back for VeryDarkMan on Tuesday after the Easter break is over,” the source said.
SaharaReporters had reported that VeryDarkMan was arrested by the police over claims that they had received a series of petitions against his conduct online.
The socialite had shared a video where he alleged that controversial cross-dresser Bobrisky was sleeping with many Nigerian lawmakers and police chiefs.
He said Bobrisky would have been arrested for openly claiming to be gay and being a trans woman if not that the socialite was sleeping with lawmakers and top police chiefs.
He said, “Make dem start by arresting Bobrisky. The lawmakers wey put this law, make dem first arrest Bobrisky because we watched Bobrisky from being a man, e turn woman for our eye like this. E do breast, e do yansh, e dey wear wig, e dey go party, e dey do everything, nobody arrest am. (They should start by arresting Bobrisky. The lawmakers who made the law should first arrest Bobrisky because we watched Bobrisky, a man, turned to a woman. He did surgeries to turn himself into a woman and no one has arrested him).”
“And you know why nobody arrest am? Because the lawmakers, plenty of them dey doke am. I dare them to arrest Bobrisky for Nigeria. Shey dem say na 14 years? I dare anybody to arrest am, I dare anybody because Bobrisky dey come out talk say e carry man, man carry am, na man dey spend for him, I dare Nigerian government to arrest Bobrisky if e no go cast! We dey country wey be say dem say na 14 years but Bobrisky dey fly (Do you know why no one has arrested him? It is because the lawmakers sleep with him. There is a law in this country that says people who engage in same-sex relationships will be jailed for 14 years but Bobrisky is a free man).
“The day they arrest Bobrisky na that day una go know how many people dey run this thing for this country. Down to plenty of them for the north, down to plenty of them for the east and down to plenty of them for the wet and the south (Any day they arrest Bobrisky, you will know how many gays and lesbians we have in Nigeria).”
Omoyele Sowore, the organizer of #RevolutionNow, bemoaned last Tuesday’s decision by the Nigeria Police Force to refuse VeryDarkMan’s release on bond, even though he complied with all requirements.
The human rights activist provided an update on the situation via his X handle, stating that VeryDarkMan was being held captive because the police force’s leadership believed he should be punished for accusing them of being gay.
Sowore continued, saying that the police planned to detain him until his arraignment.
He wrote: “Regarding @thatverydarkman, he’s being held hostage by the highest authorities at the @PoliceNG; after meeting stringent administrative bail conditions yesterday afternoon, they met and decided to “teach him a lesson” by holding him in indefinite detention until they charge him to court, possibly after the Easter Holidays. (They’re currently shopping for a judge to do their bidding).”
“This is because they claimed he accused them (Police DIGs) of homosexuality. They’re taking laws into their own hands,”
SaharaReporters had earlier revealed that the police had called VeryDarkMan in relation to Tonto Dikeh, a Nollywood actress, who was allegedly the victim of cyberbullying.
This was revealed by VeryDarkMan in a widely shared video from January, in which he expressed fear for his safety when he entered the Force Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department in Abuja, the capital of Nigeria.