Why Going Through the Police Might Fail You, But Going Through VeryDarkMan Might Not — A Lawyer Explains
It’s not every day a practicing lawyer publicly admits that the traditional justice system might be losing to a social media activist. But that’s essentially the argument a Nigerian lawyer just made online and it’s forcing an uncomfortable conversation about how “justice” actually gets served in Nigeria.
The Comparison That Started It
A lawyer known online as Foundational Nupe Lawyer laid out a detailed breakdown comparing two paths a scam victim in Nigeria might take: going through the police and court system, or going through controversial online activist VeryDarkMan (VDM).
His argument, broken down simply, goes like this:
Path One — Report to police and hire a lawyer. According to the lawyer, a well-connected or wealthy alleged scammer often has the means to bribe their way out of the situation, and can financially outlast the victim in a drawn-out case. Even if the victim pushes forward with legal representation, the lawyer described a system riddled with extra costs at every stage police requesting “mobilization” funds to act on a petition, fees to secure an arrest warrant, and even a cut of any recovered money once the case concludes. On top of the financial toll, he pointed to how much time can be lost before any resolution is reached.
Path Two — Go through VeryDarkMan. By contrast, the lawyer argued that VDM can achieve outcomes with little more than a video or two, at essentially zero legal or police cost, and with far less risk of a case fizzling out unresolved. He even noted that when VDM does involve the police through a formal petition something he says he’s personally witnessed the process tends to move without the same demands for “mobilization” fees or a percentage of any recovered funds, and without the same drawn-out timeline.
His conclusion was blunt: laid side by side, it’s easy to see which option most people would gravitate toward.
Who Is VeryDarkMan, and Why Does This Comparison Even Make Sense?
For anyone outside Nigerian social media circles, VeryDarkMan real name Martins Vincent Otse is a Nigerian content creator and self-styled online activist who has built a massive following since 2022 by calling out celebrities, businesses, and public figures over alleged fraud, abuse, and misconduct. He’s openly described himself as the “online police,” and whether people love or hate his methods, there’s no denying his call-outs tend to generate rapid public pressure — sometimes rapid enough to produce results within days that formal channels might take months or years to deliver.
That said, VDM’s own relationship with the law has been far from smooth. He’s faced multiple legal battles of his own, including cyberstalking charges tied to alleged online harassment, an impersonation case, defamation suits, and an EFCC arrest and detention over petitions alleging financial malfeasance with the EFCC publicly stating the arrest was based on formal complaints against him, not retaliation for his criticism of the agency. So the man being held up as the “efficient” alternative to the police is, himself, no stranger to being on the receiving end of Nigeria’s justice system a wrinkle that’s worth keeping in mind when weighing his methods against the very institutions he’s clashed with.
The Uncomfortable Truth Behind the Post
Strip away the specific comparison, and what the lawyer is really describing is a trust deficit that’s been building in Nigeria for years. It’s not new information that many Nigerians view police petitions as slow, expensive, and vulnerable to being influenced by whoever has deeper pockets. What’s notable here is a lawyer someone who works within that very system publicly laying out, step by step, why an internet personality’s viral call-out method might get a scam victim results faster than the legal process he practices in.
That’s not necessarily an endorsement of vigilante justice. It’s more of an indictment of how broken the alternative can feel to ordinary people who don’t have the connections, patience, or spare cash to fight a drawn-out legal battle.
The Bigger Question This Raises
If the fastest, cheapest route to accountability in Nigeria is a viral video rather than a police report, that says less about VeryDarkMan’s effectiveness and more about how much work still needs to be done to make formal channels actually work for the average person.
Until that changes, it’s easy to see why more Nigerians are choosing camera phones over court forms even if it means putting their faith in a controversial figure whose own legal record is far from clean.
