*Says “I Spoke For The Poor And People Without A Voice, Not From Experience Or Academic Expertise”
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Social media activist Martins Vincent Otse, popularly known as VeryDarkMan, has defended his invitation to speak at the Nigerian Bar Association’s 66th Annual General Conference in Port Harcourt, saying his contribution on insecurity was based on personal experience rather than academic or professional credentials.
Otse was responding to criticism by human rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana, who questioned the NBA’s choice of speakers for specialised conference discussions and argued that persons invited to address lawyers on subjects such as national security should possess relevant expertise or experience.
In a video shared on his social media page on Friday, Otse said Falana’s remarks had helped him understand what he believed was behind some of the opposition to his appearance at the conference.
He characterised the criticism as “classism,” alleging that his background and social status, rather than the substance of his contribution, were responsible for the resistance to his invitation.
“The problem these people have is that the son of a nobody was invited to come and speak where elites are seated,” he said.
Otse said he was particularly disappointed by Falana’s position, insisting that his encounters with insecurity and issues surrounding security agencies over the past few years gave him practical experience that qualified him to contribute to the discussion.
“Lately in the last few years, I have been present where all these things have happened. I have seen things that a lot of security experts have not seen,” he said.
“This is not about book. It’s not about book. It’s about experience.”
According to Otse, national security should not be treated as a subject reserved exclusively for security professionals or experts because the consequences of insecurity are experienced directly by ordinary Nigerians.
“Security is for everybody. Security is not for some set of people. And this has been the problem,” he said.
He maintained that his purpose at the NBA conference was to present the perspective of ordinary Nigerians who experience insecurity but may not ordinarily have an opportunity to address influential professional gatherings.
“I spoke on behalf of the poor masses. I spoke on behalf of the poor people. I spoke on behalf of the people that don’t have a voice,” Otse said.
He added that he had not expected Falana to take such a position on his participation.
“I wasn’t expecting this angle from Femi Falana SAN, but well, it is what it is,” he said.
The controversy followed Otse’s appearance at the NBA’s 66th Annual General Conference in Port Harcourt, where he participated in a discussion touching on insecurity in Nigeria.
Falana had earlier criticised the NBA’s approach to selecting speakers, recalling that the Association’s conferences traditionally provided platforms for persons capable of intellectually engaging lawyers on specific subjects.
He argued that where national security was being discussed, the Association should ordinarily invite people with relevant knowledge of the country’s security architecture or persons whose direct experiences could meaningfully illuminate the subject.
Falana had also said NBA conferences should remain serious forums for intellectual engagement rather than entertainment, arguing that the professional background, record and relevance of proposed speakers should be properly scrutinised.
Otse, however, rejected the suggestion that his lack of conventional security credentials made his contribution inappropriate, insisting that lived experience was itself relevant to understanding insecurity.
His response adds another dimension to the debate generated by his appearance at the conference, which has divided opinion over whether professional gatherings such as the NBA conference should restrict specialised discussions principally to recognised experts or also provide platforms for citizens with direct experience of the issues being examined.
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