By Adesina Soyooye
Deji Adeyanju, Counsel to Martin Vincent Otse, popular as VeryDarkMan, has alleged that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has labelled his client a bandit.
VDM was arrested in controversial circumstances by the EFCC Operatives at a branch of the Guaranteed Trust Bank Plc in Abuja when he and a friend of his accompanied his mother to find out why the bank was deducting money from her account as loan repayment when she had never taken any loan from the bank.
The initial story was that the bank detained VDM within its Security door until the EFCC arrived and arrested him. But a CCTV recording of the arrest released by the bank showed that the arrest was made outside the bank, at the parking lot.
However, in a statement released late Saturday, Adeyanju claimed that his client was not only physically manhandled by Operatives of the EFCC but was Labeled a “bandit”.
The statement posted on Adeyanju’s official X page titled “Preliminary Statement on the Arrest of Mr. Martins Vincent Otse (aka Very Dark Black Man) and Mr. Steven Avuara (aka C-Pack) by Officers of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission“, reads:
“The incident occurred on May 2, 2025, shortly after Mr. Otse, his mother, Mrs. Blessing Otse, and Mr. Avuara visited Guaranty Trust Bank (GTBank), Garki, Area 3, Abuja, to inquire about “the incessant deductions from Mrs. Otse’s bank account.
“After completing their inquiry, the trio attempted to exit the bank but were “locked in the bank’s security door for over five minutes.”
“Upon stepping outside, they were reportedly “accosted at gunpoint, a few metres outside the bank’s premises, beaten and blindfolded by some armed men wearing black uniforms.”
During the arrest, the officers labelled them as ‘bandits’ and threatened to shoot them in the presence of Mrs. Otse.
“Upon learning of the incident, my colleagues, Marvin Omorogbe and Steven Eze, visited the EFCC headquarters where they confirmed that both Otse and Avuara were being detained by officers attached to the Commission’s Special Duty Committee (SDC) Unit 4.”
“While they were denied access to VeryDarkMan — who “declined to see anybody” — they were able to speak with Avuara, who provided an account of the events.
“Efforts to determine the basis for Avuara’s detention were unsuccessful.
“The EFCC officers reportedly refused to disclose the allegations against him. Instead, they presented an arrest warrant against Otse, allegedly, issued by “His Worship, Njideka Iloanya-Duru (Mrs), Chief Magistrate II, Wuse Zone 2, on the allegation of cyber stalking.
“Despite repeated requests, the officers attempted to interrogate Avuara without clarifying any charges against him. The lawyers eventually exited the interrogation room, refusing to be part of a process that they considered a violation of Avuara’s ‘constitutional right to be informed of the allegations against him.’
“While we continue to interface with the EFCC on this issue, we call on the Commission to respect our clients’ constitutionally guaranteed rights.”
Recall that VDM had, just a few days ago, called out the EFCC over its arrest of E-Money for alleged Naira abuse. While urging the EFCC to, immediately, release E-Money, VDM attributed his arrest to his being Igbo. Otherwise, he argued, why arrest him when the two sons of Chief Okaya (of the Eleganza fame) who publicly abused the Naira, were not arrested, and have been free since then? For the records, E-Money has been released after interrogation by the Commission.
Discover more from The Source
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
