Court adjourns Femi Falana, Falz’s defamation case against VeryDarkMan to January 23

A Lagos High Court, sitting in Ikeja on Thursday, adjourned the hearing of the defamation suit filed by Senior Advocate of Nigeria Femi Falana and his son, Folarin, aka Falz, against a blogger, Martins Vincent Otse, also known as VeryDarkMan (VDM).

Multiple videos online showed the moment VeryDarkMan appeared in court on Thursday for the continuation of the defamatory action against him over his controversial publication.

Channels TV reports that the case could not proceed because most of the applications and court processes filed by the parties were not yet in the court file.

The court, therefore, adjourned the hearing to January 23, 2025.

The Falanas had sued VeryDarkMan to claim N500 million each in damages among others over a video he posted on his social media platforms, alleging that they collected N10 million from Idris Okuneye, aka Bobrisky, to pervert the course of justice.

Mr Femi Falana and Folarin Falana averted that the defendant should be held liable for defamation because he deliberately failed to verify the claims and facts contained in his video before publication.

They insisted that VeryDarkMan knew all his comments were unverified and not true, yet he proceeded to publish the same to injure their reputation recklessly.

Meanwhile,, Justice Matthias Dawodu while ruling on an exparte application for an order of interim and preemptive remedy brought by the Falanas, held that they have legal rights to be protected from being slandered.

The presiding judge also ordered VDM to delete the alleged defamatory video that he made on Sept. 24 against the SAN and his son.

The influencer was also restrained by the court from further releasing, publishing, or circulating any defamatory videos and comments against the senior lawyer and his son on all his online social media handles and pages pending the hearing of a suit filed by the duo.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, VeryDarkMan vowed that he would not apologize to Femi Falana (SAN) and his son, Folarin, a popular rapper also known as Falz or anyone else over the defamation case.

VeryDarkMan in a video released on his Instagram page maintained that the video was intended to expose corruption in Nigeria.

“I just arrived in Lagos for the Femi Falana case against me at the Ikeja High Court by 9:00 am,” he said.

“I came to Lagos ahead of that. As you all know, they (Falana and Falz) said I defamed them, but for me, it’s corruption that I exposed,” he insisted.

“I see things that don’t make sense, like someone going to prison and not serving jail term or the EFCC, which is expected to catch people involved in corruption, collecting money.

“That’s what I exposed. But sadly, some people, Falana and Falz, whose names were mentioned, said I should have informed them before posting such things about them.

“They asked me to apologize. I don’t see anything wrong with what I did, so I’m not apologizing to anybody. They should clear their name.”

“I have tried to respect them, but it didn’t work because I went to prostrate for Falana, yet they insisted that I must go and apologize,” he added.

“Now it is time for the court hearing, and heaven won’t fall. Tomorrow, if I hear their names again, I will post it. I don’t fear anybody’s father. I don’t want a country where, when it is someone’s time, we should keep quiet.”

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