Why I fabricated N180m theft – VDM

Abdullateef Fowewe

Controversial social media activist, Martins Otse, well known as VeryDarkMan/VDM, has revealed that his recent claim of a N180 million theft from his NGO account was fabricated to teach Nigerians a lesson.

VDM in a video shared on his social media account on Tuesday, disclosed that the story was a deliberate attempt to highlight the dangers of spreading unverified information.

He revealed that the entire incident was staged to demonstrate the widespread lack of scrutiny over media reports.

VDM could be heard saying, “This whole thing that happened with the N180 million, I deliberately did it to show that you people are stupid. We are in a country where nobody bothers to check or investigate anything that is said in the media.

“All I did was tell my website guys to shut it down first. Make we use these people take catch cruise, make we teach these people sense because they are dumb. It is very clear that most of you are stupid, very, very stupid.

“It’s time to start asking for proof of things. Did I show you the details of the account when I said my N180 million is missing?”

He thereby pointed out how the Nigerian entertainment industry and social media thrive on controversy, stressing, “Now, for musicians to blow, they will have to look for controversy; for movies to blow, they will look for controversy. That is how bad the media is.”

He emphasised the importance of demanding proof and evidence before spreading narratives, saying, “The way you people are excited about bad news, you don’t even wait to analyse anything anymore. It’s a problem, and that is why the media has been corrupted.”

However, the critic also addressed criticism of his actions, denying claims that he presented a taxi driver as a police officer.

Hesaid, “I never said that guy was a police officer. Go back to my video and tell me where I said police. I said I’m travelling with Officer Sam. An officer can be Air Force, Navy, Civil Defence, or even Task Force.”

Why criticising another narrative about France establishing a military base in Nigeria he notes, “Tell me or give me proof where France is establishing a military base in Nigeria. Nobody will be able to prove it.”

VeryDarkMan reiterated his criticism of social media users, urging them to demand proof and evidence before spreading narratives.

“Different narratives will fly because you people don’t use your brains to think. They can easily manipulate you through the media,” he added.

Meanwhile, in another video, VDM revealed the bank statement of the NGO account, which he claimed had a closing balance of N240 million as of December 31, indicating that there was no transaction on the day he posted about the theft.

“Money no lost. The e-bank statement will be provided. The total money in this account is N240 million. Nobody is like me in Nigeria. I’m the only one that can do this,” he said.

Recall that VDM had earlier claimed that over N180 million was stolen from his NGO’s account following a hacking incident.

He later revealed on Sunday that N78 million of the N180 million allegedly stolen from his NGO’s account has been recovered, Dailyeconomy reported.

Meanwhile, the police on Saturday, December 28, in a statement through the Federal Capital Territory Command spokesperson, Josephine Adeh, stated that the Command is not aware of any case involving VDM’s missing funds and is not conducting any investigation into it.