Human rights lawyer Femi Falana announces that a court has imposed a ₦500 million fine on VeryDarkMan for defamation, marking a significant legal victory.
The Lagos State High Court has decided against Martin Otse, a well-known social media critic known as VeryDarkMan. The court has ordered him to delete defamatory remarks and videos he made about Femi Falana (SAN), a lawyer and human rights activist, and his son Folarin.
In a ruling issued by Justice M. O. Idowu on Tuesday, the court ordered VeryDarkMan to pay N500 million in damages for libel, as outlined in the pre-action documents of the judgment.
The ruling in case number ID/8584/GCM/2024 emphasized the gravity of the allegations presented by Otse.
The judge declared that the posts shared by VeryDarkMan on social media on September 24, 2024, which connected well-known personality Bobrisky to Falz and his father, were defamatory and significantly damaged their public reputations.
Dawodu explained that Falz and Falana have asserted the defendant, VeryDarkMan, was aware that Bobrisky’s claims were false yet still went ahead to publish them with the intent of damaging their reputation.
Additionally, the defamatory statements are still trending on VeryDarkMan’s various online platforms, and the harm to their reputation persists as long as these publications remain accessible.
Additional information will be provided soon…
