Controversial social media critic, Martins Vincent Otse better known as Verydarkman has backed out of the ongoing #endbadgovernance protest ongoing nationwide.
Hundreds of thousands of Nigerians have been protesting since Aug. 1 against Tinubu’s painful economic reforms that have seen a partial end to petrol and electricity subsidies, currency devaluation and inflation touching three-decade highs.
In a recent video shared online, Very Dark Man outlined his reasons for backing out of the protest, while encouraging others to back out as well.
He noted that in some Northern states in Nigeria, protesters are now flying the Russian flag, calling for the Russian government to come to Nigeria’s aide.
Also, the same protesters were requesting for a military coup d’état, as in a complete takeover of the democratic government by the military.
Very Dark Man said that the main aim of the protest, which was hunger has been defeated because people are now deviating from the course by calling for a new government, instead of making demands.
He said that someone was behind the call for the Russian government to intercede into Nigerian affairs. Very Dark Man said that the protest is getting violent, and that the government should impose curfews on the states he mentioned, so that the issue won’t get out of hand.
Prior to this declaration, Very Dark Man was one of the prominent names in Nigeria to pioneer the Nationwide protest, and he laid a lot of emphasis on the protest being organized.
During his participation in the protest, Very Dark Man had tear gas thrown at him by the police, but he later defended them, stating that their hands were tied because of orders from above.
Meanwhile the Nigerian police force has detained some tailors for making Russian flags that were waved during anti-government protests this week in northern states, the state secret police said, in a move that underscores concerns about increased Russian activity in western Africa.
The Department of State Services (DSS) also said in a post on X that it had detained some of the tailors’ “sponsors”, without elaborating. It said an investigation was ongoing. It did not say how many tailors or “sponsors” had been detained though.
Nigeria’s Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa, described the brandishing of a foreign flag during anti-government protests as a “treasonable offence” after he held security talks with President Bola Tinubu on Monday.
“We have identified those (sponsoring them) and we are going to take serious action against that,” Musa told reporters.
The Russian embassy in Nigeria have however denied any involvement in any of these.
“The Government of the Russian Federation as well as any Russian officials are not involved in these activities and do not coordinate them in any way,” the embassy said in a statement issued late on Monday.
By Ezinne Okorie.
