The Lagos State High Court has ordered controversial social media critic, Martin Otse, also known as VeryDarkMan, to take down defamatory comments and videos targeting prominent lawyer and human rights activist, Femi Falana (SAN), and his son, Folarin Falana, popularly known as Falz.
In addition to the removal of the defamatory content, the court has mandated that Otse pay N500 million in damages for libel, as outlined in the pre-action bundle of the judgment.
Justice M.O. Idowu, who delivered the ruling in suit no: ID/8584/GCM/2024 on Tuesday, stated that the comments made by VeryDarkMan on September 24, 2024, linking popular internet personality Bobrisky to both Falana and his son, Falz, were defamatory and harmful to their public reputation.
The judge noted, “The applicants (Falz and Falana) argued that the defendant (VeryDarkMan) was fully aware that these claims, which referenced Bobrisky, were false and yet proceeded to publish them, causing reputational damage.”
The defamatory posts, which remain active across VeryDarkMan’s various social media platforms, continue to harm the reputation of the applicants as long as they are online, the court further ruled.
More details to follow.