Social commentator VeryDarkMan (VDM) has responded to human rights lawyer Femi Falana (SAN) after the lawyer criticised his invitation to participate as a panellist at the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) conference in Rivers State.
Falana had on Thursday kicked against the decision to invite VDM as a panellist at the conference, questioning the appropriateness of his participation in an event organised by the legal profession.
Responding in a video on Friday morning, VDM alleged that Falana and other critics were opposed to his invitation because they were “classists” who believed that someone from an ordinary background should not be invited to an event attended by members of the elite.
He dismissed the argument that a security expert should have been invited in his place, insisting that his experiences qualified him to speak on security issues.
“They mask it up with the talk of, ‘Oh, you should have invited a security expert.’ Which security expert are you talking about?” VDM asked.
He criticised some security professionals for their approach to dealing with Boko Haram insurgents, questioning whether such experts were the appropriate people to discuss security matters.
VDM said his views were based on his personal experiences, claiming that he had witnessed situations that some security experts had not experienced.
“It’s not about books. It is about experience. And when you want to talk about security, it is for everybody. It is not for some set of people,” he said.
Addressing the criticism from lawyers who described law as a noble profession, VDM questioned whether the legal profession had maintained that status amid public concerns about the justice system.
He argued that many Nigerians had lost confidence in the courts and claimed that some people now turned to him to seek redress over disputes.
“When people want justice, who do they call? They call VDM!” he said.
VDM also questioned the integrity of a justice system where, according to him, wealthy individuals could allegedly influence court judgments while poor Nigerians struggled to obtain justice.
“A noble profession that rich men are buying judgment every day? That the poor don’t believe they can get justice in court? What is noble about that?” he asked.
He further claimed that he had helped more people resolve disputes and recover money than many lawyers criticising him online, challenging them to point to similar contributions they had made to society.
“Most of the lawyers talking on Twitter, I have won more cases and given people justice than most of them put together,” he said.
VDM also referenced cases involving the kidnapping of judges, questioning what lawyers and other professionals had done to address some of the challenges confronting the country’s justice system.
His comments come amid an ongoing debate over his invitation to participate in the NBA conference and the role of non-lawyers in discussions on legal, security and social issues.
