- Safiu Kehinde
Nigerian Social Media Influencer, Martins Vincent Otse, popularly known as VeryDarkMan, has apologized to the Nigerian Police Force over use of uniform in a viral video on his social media handle.
VDM made the apology in a post on his X handle after being summoned on Wednesday by the Police for questioning.
The Police had frowned against the use of its uniform by the social media influencer in a viral video where he declared himself as CSP of an online division.
Apologizing over the act, VDM admitted to his ignorance on the unlawful use of the uniform without permission.
He said he did not intend to impersonate the Police.
“I’m back from the police station which was back and forth. They brought me in based on a post I made where I said I was a CSP of an online division.
“A lot of discussion happened, interrogation and I found out some things. You know we learn every day. I made my video and I said CSP. In my own interpretation, what I meant was Chief Social Media Person.
“However, the Nigeria Police have a rank called CSP which means Chief Superintendent of Police. And also, they said the uniform I was wearing is similar to the Nigeria Police.
“That if at all you want to use a uniform that is similar to that of the Nigeria Police, you have to seek permission, which I didn’t know all these. It looked as if I was cajoling the Nigeria Police which was never my intention.
“I want to make a formal apology to the Nigeria Police. Of course I cannot caricature you. Without you, who is going to protect us?” VDM said.
Meanwhile, the self-acclaimed online police warned other content creators against unlawful usage of the Nigerian Police uniform.
“I will like to use the medium to tell the general public to always seek permission from the police or other law enforcement agencies before using anything that might look like their uniform.
“You might want to use it for good but there are others that might want to use it for bad, so it’s good to get full approval before using anything that might seem impersonating the Nigeria Police Force,” he added.