The defamation case that Femi Falana (SAN) and his son, singer Falz, brought against the controversial activist Vincent Otse, better known as VeryDarkMan (VDM), has been put off until January 23, 2025. VDM is being sued for slandering the Falanas through online material, specifically a video and an audio recording that were said to spread damaging and false information about them. The case has been put off because of mistakes in the process, such as not presenting the correct writ of summons to the court on time.
At the hearing, Muiz Banire (SAN), the lawyer for the claimants, told the court that the originating process had been filed and served on the defendants, but it was not yet in front of the court as needed. Banire asked for a break so that the required administrative tasks could be finished. However, Marvin Omorogbe, VDM’s lawyer, said that the Falanas’ writ was not valid because it had the same suit number as an earlier preemptive remedy case that was already over. He said it was the right thing to do to file a new writ with a different suit number. Omorogbe also asked that the whole case be thrown out because of these reasons.
After hearing these arguments, Justice Matthias Dawodu agreed to throw out a related motion that the claimants had made. He also said that the case would be rescheduled for a hearing once the right administrative steps were taken. The judge also made it clear that the case could not move forward until all the necessary paperwork was turned in properly. Because of this, the court set January 2025 as the date to hear VDM’s lawyer’s formal objections.
This case of defamation is related to some audio and video content that VDM shared in September 2024 that caused a lot of trouble. People say that the video said bad things about Femi Falana and his son Falz and accused them of perverting the course of justice. The Falanas then asked for an injunction, which was granted in mid-October 2024. The order told VDM to take down the content he had supposedly uploaded and stop spreading more false information.
The delay until January 2025 makes the legal fight even longer, since both sides still have to deal with procedural issues. A famous human rights lawyer named Falana and a famous Nigerian artist and activist named Falz are both involved in this case, so a lot of people are paying close attention to it.
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