A Lagos High Court sitting in Ikeja on Tuesday struck out the defamation suit filed against controversial social media personality Martins Otse, popularly known as VeryDarkBlackMan (VDM).
The suit was instituted by human rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana, and his son, rapper and activist Folarin Falana, also known as Falz. The case stemmed from a video published by VDM on September 24, 2024, in which he alleged that the Falanas received ₦10 million from Idris Okuneye, a.k.a. Bobrisky, to subvert justice.
The father and son filed separate suits, each seeking ₦500 million in damages, claiming the statements were false, malicious, and intended to damage their reputation.
In their filings, the Falanas argued that VDM knowingly spread unverified information and that the defamatory content remains online, continuing to cause reputational harm.
However, when the matter was called on Tuesday, all parties — including the Falanas and the defendant — were absent in court.
VDM’s legal representative, Niyi Alagbe (holding brief for Marvin Omorogbe), informed the court that an application for a stay of proceedings had been filed before Justice Fimisola Azeez, who is presiding over the substantive matter.
Responding, counsel for the Falanas, Omotayo Olatunbosun, acknowledged receipt of the application late on Monday and argued that the preliminary objection listed for hearing should proceed, alleging the new filing was a delay tactic.
Justice Matthias Dawodu, however, noted that the referenced application was not in the court file and questioned why the case was before him when the main suit was already pending before another judge.
In his ruling, Justice Dawodu held that continuing with the case would serve no practical purpose.
“Consequently, this suit is hereby struck out,” the judge declared.
