Renowned human rights activist, Omoyele Sowore, has condemned the arrest of social media critic, Martins Vincent OTSE, also known as Very Dark Man.
The content creator has been remanded in a police cell for days for alleged cyberbullying but details of his arrest are yet to be made official by the Police.
Displeased with the arrest, Sowore noted that the police were only hiding under the Cybercrime Act, citing that another social media influencer, Chizorom Ofoegbu, was also arrested for what he thought was similar to the case of Very Dark Man.
According to Sowore, the police are misusing their power, and colluding with powerful people in the country to oppress others.
"This evening I learned that the @Policeng, under a very despicable way got Martins Vincent OTSE, also known as @thatverydarkman, detained wickedly hiding under cover of the Cybercrime Act because he said things some senior police officers weren’t comfortable with, so also was another social media influencer Chizorom Ofoegbu also known as @IjeleSpeaks2 arrested by the police and sent to prison in Keffi under questionable and inappropriate magisterial misconduct in Abuja. Apparently, the @policeng colluded with a pastor violating his fundamental rights, therefore jeopardising his liberty.
"The @PoliceNG continues to misuse its powers to suppress free speech by colluding with pastors, GOs, entertainers, politicians, and the highly connected. I condemn this high-handed, reckless, inhuman, unjust and illegal police conduct and urge the @policeng authorities to release @thatverydarkman and @IjeleSpeaks2 with immediate effect.
"The @PoliceNG must continually be reminded that this is how it rode itself into #EndSARS, a mass action that nearly consumed the Nigerian Police Force. No one has a right to suppress free speech under the guise of illegality," Sowore wrote on his X timeline.
The former presidential candidate charged the police to immediately release Very Dark Man, Ofoegbu, and other others who have been detained under the Cybercrime Act.
Ofoegbu recently submitted a motion on notice to the Magistrate Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja. The motion, filed by his counsel, Marvin Omorogbe, requests the court to nullify his remand at the Nigeria Correctional Centre, Keffi, Nasarawa State.