Social critic, Martins Vincent Otse, popularly known as VeryDarkMan, has apologised to soldiers, policemen, customs and immigration personnel over the comments he made about security agents at the recently held Nigerian Bar Association’s 66th Annual General Conference. NigerianCulture Magazine
VeryDarkMan made the apology in a video shared on Friday, September 4, after reflecting on his speech where he referred to the military, police, immigration and customs personnel as “unknown gunmen” during a discussion on insecurity.
He said he realised that the comment was unfair to security personnel who were risking their lives to protect Nigerians, particularly soldiers fighting Boko Haram and other threats.
He explained that his criticism was directed at alleged corruption, sabotage and information leaks by some individuals within the security agencies, rather than the personnel as a whole.
He acknowledged, however, that the manner in which he made the point amounted to a generalisation that could undermine the sacrifices of security personnel who had died in the line of duty.
“That speech was not fair, especially to the soldiers that are in the bushes fighting Boko Haram to protect our lands, to protect our lives, and to protect our families.
I don’t think it’s fair to say they are also the unknown gunmen, to be very honest, because these people have laid down their lives. My speech was not to discourage you. My speech was entirely to talk about the bad eggs in our security operative, our security forces, is to put attention on the bad eggs, so that the leaders in these security settings will look inward and to see that sometimes information are being leaked and their own people are sabotaging them,” he said.
He went on to address the Chief of Defence Staff and other security authorities, asking that his apology be conveyed to personnel serving in difficult and dangerous conditions.
“So I will go further to say to the Chief of Defence Staff, Sir, I really want to apologise for that speech, and I don’t want to discourage your boys. Please extend my apologies to your boys, to the ones that are in the bush protecting our lands.
To the families of these heroes that might have also felt offended by this speech, knowing fully well that their brother, their sister, their son, their husband fought and died for this country, I am really, really sorry,” he said.
