The South South Zonal Organising Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Blessing Agbomhere Esq, has called on social media influencer Martins Vincent Otse, popularly known as VeryDarkMan, to tender an unreserved apology to the President of the Senate and Nigeria’s number three citizen, Senator Godswill Akpabio.
This follows what Agbomhere described as Otse’s unwarranted and slanderous verbal attack on Akpabio for leading a five-man federal government delegation to the funeral of Pope Francis last Saturday at the Vatican.
In a three-minute viral video on social media, VeryDarkMan criticised Akpabio’s visit to Rome, describing it as shameful. He argued that the President of the Senate lacked the moral standing to attend the Pope’s funeral when he could have used less time to visit Benue, Plateau, Kwara, Ogun, and Enugu states, which are currently plagued by large-scale insecurity due to attacks by marauding herdsmen, resulting in the deaths of scores of innocent Nigerians.
However, in a press statement personally signed and made available to newsmen in Abuja on Monday, Agbomhere issued a stern warning to VeryDarkMan, urging him to desist from slandering law-abiding and critical stakeholders in Nigeria’s development, all under the guise of activism.
“This individual known as VeryDarkMan is now notorious for blackmail, slander, and character assassination while pretending to be an advocate for the masses and a social crusader. The unwarranted verbal attack on the President of the Senate is yet another of such aimless, baseless, and uninformed diatribes, this time targeted at the number three citizen of Nigeria, who did not send himself to Rome but was duly nominated by President Bola Tinubu to lead a strong five-man delegation to represent Nigeria at the Pope’s funeral. What exactly is wrong with that?
“Being a devout Catholic and family man with unblemished character, President Tinubu saw in Akpabio a worthy ambassador of Nigeria to such an event as the Pope’s funeral and wasted no time in entrusting that responsibility to him. Just as the Scriptures admonish Christians to celebrate with those who are celebrating and to mourn with those who are bereaved, the Nigerian delegation, led by Akpabio, joined the rest of the world to mourn the passing of the Head of the Catholic Church. What is wrong with that?
“I am, with this statement, issuing VeryDarkMan a one-week ultimatum to immediately tender an unreserved apology to the President of the Senate for the slanderous comments and to desist from further bringing the integrity of the President Bola Tinubu-led administration into disrepute in the eyes of the global community,” the statement read in part.
Agbomhere urged Nigerians to ignore the uninformed rantings of VeryDarkMan, adding that the current administration is working diligently behind the scenes to tackle the pervasive insecurity across the country, which it inherited from previous administrations.
“Upon his return from France and the United Kingdom, President Tinubu met with security chiefs and, during the meeting, gave them marching orders to ensure that a different approach is deployed in the fight against insecurity. Does this sound like a man who is not serious about protecting the lives and property of Nigerians? Mind you, the complex security problems in the country cannot be wished away with a wave of the hand. It takes time to achieve a semblance of peace, and that is a commitment that the Tinubu-led administration made to Nigerians while assuming office and is still committed to achieving,” the statement concluded.
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