A bench warrant for the arrest of controversial social media activist, Martins Otse, popularly known as Very Dark Man, over alleged defamation of gospel singer Mercy Chinwo has been issued.
An Abuja Chief Magistrate Court sitting in Wuse Zone 6 issued the bench warrant on Thursday in response to a criminal defamation action that Mercy Chinwo had placed before the court.
In his verdict, Magistrate Emmanuel Iyana directed the Nigeria Police Force and other law enforcement organizations to detain the defendant and bring him before the court to respond to the criminal charges the gospel singer had made against him.
The court also observed that Very Dark man did not show up for the hearing after being summoned on March 5 to answer for the allegations leveled against him.
Magistrate Iyana also refused to overturn the arrest order, even after counsel to the defendant, Mr. Deji Adeyanju, who was present in court, made a strong plea.
Recall that Mercy Chinwo’s lawyer, Pelumi Olajengbesi, filed the complaint one month after Very Dark Man accused her of embezzling money from performances without paying her previous record label, which was run by Ezekiel Onyedikachukwu, better known as Eezee Tee.
The gospel musician’s legal team, Law Corridor, filed the complaint, dated March 3, 2025, before the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court in Abuja.
Very Dark Man is accused of making “libellous, malicious, spiteful, malevolent, and grossly defamatory statements that impugn the image and character” of the singer in the Writ of Summons document.
An injunction requiring Very Dark Man to remove, take back, and publicly apologize for the allegedly false and defamatory remarks made about the gospel musician is one of the demands made.
Pelumi Olajengbesi of Law Corridor, Mercy’s attorney, who filed the writ, claims that despite the social media critic’s lack of direct involvement in the dispute, Very Dark Man nonetheless unfairly and damagingly portrayed the singer by claiming that she was secretly collecting payment from performances without sending the money to her previous label, EeZee Conceptz.
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