THE CABLE
VeryDarkMan, the controversial activist, has denied claims that he shared a defamatory statement against Femi Falana, the human rights lawyer.
VeryDarkMan recently shared a purported audio conversation wherein Bobrisky, the social media celebrity, claimed that Falana and Falz, his son, contacted her.
In the recording, Bobrisky alleged that she spoke with Falz in prison and that the rapper and his dad “tried to get me a presidential pardon in exchange for N10,000,000″.
Responding to the allegation on Wednesday, Falana described it as a “vicious and reckless” attempt to “impugn my reputation”.
Falana issued a 24-hour ultimatum to the Abuja-based activist to retract his statement “to avoid legal remedies”.
In his reaction, VeryDarkMan, through Deji Adeyanju, his legal representative, denied putting out a defamatory statement against the human rights lawyer.
The activist clarified that releasing the voice recordings was to prompt a thorough investigation into Bobrisky’s allegations, not to defame Falana.
He stressed that he holds Falana in high esteem for his human rights activism in Nigeria and believes an investigation is necessary instead of pursuing defamation charges.
“Our client denies defaming Mr. Femi Falana, SAN, a renowned Senior Advocate of Nigeria and globally recognised human rights activist, but asserts that he only published the said communication with a view to getting the relevant agencies, and even your client, to initiate a thorough investigation into the far-reaching allegations made by Mr. Okuneye in the said voice recording, especially as some element of the voice recording has been confirmed by Mr. Folarin Falana in his solicitor’s letter of September 25, 2024,” the letter reads in part.
“Our client holds Mr. Femi Falana, SAN in very high esteem and recognises his commitment to the protection of human rights and rule of law in Nigeria. It is in the light of the foregoing that our client believes that the appropriate line of action in the circumstance is an interagency investigation into the allegations contained in the voice recording, rather than pursuing a case of defamation.”
VeryDarkMan also disclosed that Falana is his go-to person when in trouble, adding that “he is on my emergency contact”.
He insisted that he only said he would be disappointed if Falana were involved in the allegations.
“I only reacted to the call Bobrisky made in which he made allegations that he alleged that Uncle Femi Falana and Falz collected N10 million. And what I said is I choose not to believe that Uncle Femi Falana is associated with that and if, I would be disappointed because of his position in society,” he said in an Instagram video.
“I had an option of cutting the video where he mentioned Falz, but I refused because I wanted a thorough investigation into the matter. I have another one to post. That is from a totally different person. The EFCC was named, and the comptroller general was named.
