Afrobeats star, Davido, has joined the growing calls for the release of social media activist, Martins Vincent Otse, popularly known as Verydarkman, who was arrested in Abuja on May 2, 2025.
Verydarkman was taken into custody by operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission shortly after visiting a GTBank branch with his mother to complain about strange debits on her account.
His lawyer, Deji Adeyanju, said the arrest took place inside the bank premises and described it as an ambush. According to Adeyanju, VDM was trapped in the bank’s exit door for over five minutes, which he believes was done on purpose to help EFCC officials arrest him.
“VDM was locked inside the GTB exit door for over 5 minutes to enable EFCC arrest him and his friend,” Adeyanju said.
He added that legal action would be taken against the bank for the way his client was treated.
“We will be taking legal actions against GTB for the inhumane treatment meted out to our client,” he said.
Davido reacted to the incident on his X (formerly Twitter) page on Saturday night. He praised the public for standing by Verydarkman and urged the authorities to release him.
“Outside all the noise, it’s good to see that the good one does actually impacts lives and people actually appreciate! The support I’m seeing for VDM everywhere is encouraging.. makes one want to do more for the masses. FREE MY GUY,” Davido wrote.
As of the time of filing this report, the EFCC has not officially confirmed the arrest, and the reason behind it remains unclear.
Meanwhile, Adeyanju confirmed that his team had located VDM in EFCC custody, though the activist initially refused to leave his cell or speak to anyone.
“Our lawyers led by the Head of our firm @Marvin\_Omorogbe just met VDM’s friend who was arrested together with him in EFCC custody. VDM refused to come out of the cell; that he won’t see anyone,” Adeyanju said.
He assured the public that efforts were ongoing to secure his client’s release.
