Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Femi Falana, has criticised the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) over its decision to invite social commentator Martins Vincent Otse, popularly known as VeryDarkMan (VDM), as a panelist at its ongoing annual conference.
Falana described the development as a departure from the standard he associated with previous NBA conferences, arguing that the association’s events were not previously organised as “circus shows.”
The legal practitioner made the remarks during an interview on Channels Television on Thursday, August 27, 2026.
VDM participated as a panelist in a session titled “Known Gunmen or Unknown Gunmen,” where he spoke about his experiences reporting on insecurity and visiting communities affected by killings and attacks.
However, Falana questioned the decision to feature VDM in a session focused on national security, arguing that such discussions should involve individuals with established expertise and experience in the country’s security architecture.
“In those days, the NBA brought individuals who had paid their dues, who were coming to engage lawyers intellectually. We wanted to learn from them, and so none of our conferences was a circus show in the past,” Falana said.
He argued that the association should prioritise experts who have made demonstrable contributions to Nigeria’s security sector when organising discussions on national security.
“So, if you are bringing in an expert to discuss the security of the country, either from the private or public sector, such an individual must have contributed to the security architecture of the country. But when you bring people who have nothing to do with the security of the country, there are problems,” he said.
Falana compared the situation to inviting someone without professional experience to speak to journalists about press freedom.
“It’s like talking about media freedom, press freedom. You are going to bring practitioners in that field, either in academics or in the newsroom. But to just go and bring somebody from nowhere to come and entertain you, there are problems with that,” he said.
The comments have added to the ongoing public discussion surrounding VDM’s participation at the NBA conference, particularly over the choice of speakers and the role of social commentators in professional forums.
