The Lagos State High Court has ordered social media critic Martin Otse, known as VeryDarkMan, to remove defamatory comments and videos about lawyer and human rights activist Femi Falana (SAN) and his son, Folarin (Falz). In addition, the court ruled that VeryDarkMan must pay N500 million in damages for libel, as outlined in the pre-action judgment.

Justice M. O. Idowu delivered the ruling in case no: ID/8584/GCM/2024 on Tuesday. The court found that VeryDarkMan’s social media posts from September 24, 2024, linking Bobrisky to Falz and his father, were defamatory and harmful to their public image.

The judge stated, “According to the applicants (Falz and Falana), the defendant (VeryDarkMan) knew these statements (Bobrisky’s claims) were false and untrue but proceeded to publish them to injure their reputation. Furthermore, the defamatory statements are still trending on the defendant (VeryDarkMan)’s several online platforms, and the injury to their reputation continues as long as the publication remains online.”