Nigerian social critic, Martins Otse, popularly known as VeryDarkMan, has made a U-turn on the alleged theft of N180m from his NGO’s account.
According to him, the claim was a prank.
He made the revelation in a video shared on Tuesday via his Instagram page.
According to VeryDarkMan, the entire episode was orchestrated to test the critical thinking abilities of Nigerians.
“No money is missing; my money is secured. I told my website guy, shut the website, let us use this people catch cruise. Nobody bothered to ask for evidence. They just went with what is being said. I am so happy I did this,” he said
VeryDarkMan said the prank exposed a lack of analytical thinking among Nigerians.
“The way people are so excited about bad news is really sad,” he said.
On December 27, VeryDarkMan announced via his Instagram handle that N180m had been stolen from his NGO’s account after its website was hacked.
He also claimed that only N20m was left in the account, while N160m was allegedly diverted.
However, VeryDarkMan admitted in the video that the supposed hack and the subsequent police investigations were all part of the prank.
“Nobody sat down to analyze that the VeryDarkMan we know, if ₦180 million is missing from his NGO account, he would not be going to Jos when the police headquarters is in Abuja, when the EFCC headquarters is in Abuja, when the cybercrime unit is in Abuja,” he said.
“The prank caused me grievous insults, with my mother also receiving some stray insults,” he admitted.
The NGO, Martins Vincent Osei Initiative, was launched in October 2024 with a mission to improve public education and community development in Nigeria.
The initiative got financial support, including N35m in public donations within hours of its launch and N100m contribution from music producer, Don Jazzy.
