by The Ajasa News | March 5, 2025 5:01 pm
Gospel singer Mercy Chinwo has taken legal action against social media activist Martins Vincent Otse, popularly known as VeryDarkMan, at the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.
She is seeking ₦1.1 billion in damages over alleged defamatory statements made by the activist regarding her ongoing contract dispute with her former record label boss, Ezekiel Onyedikachukwu, also known as EezeeTee.
The dispute centers on accusations that EezeeTee allegedly diverted $345,000 in royalties. A Federal High Court in Lagos had earlier upheld an arrest warrant against him for alleged fraudulent conversion and set March 6, 2025, as the date for his arraignment.
In the lawsuit, filed by her lawyer Pelumi Olajengbesi, Chinwo alleges that VeryDarkMan published false and damaging statements on his Instagram account on February 2, 3, 4, 5, 12, and 17, 2025. These posts accused her of “going behind the record label to go and collect shows, she was collecting gigs and she was not remitting money to the record label.”
The legal document further states, “The Defendant posted a series of videos to his millions of followers showing a caricaturist and disdainful portrayal of the Claimant (Chinwo) as well as his bias towards the claim of Mr. EezeeTee, thereby deliberately ridiculing the position of the Claimant in the dispute.”
Chinwo insists that she has never had any form of relationship with VeryDarkMan and that his statements wrongly suggested he was directly involved in the dispute between her and EezeeTee. Her legal team states, “The Claimant avers that the statements which the Defendant made in the videos he published on his Instagram page were as though the Defendant was personally involved in the issues between the Claimant and Mr. EezeeTee; however, these statements were not only false, but damning and injurious to the Claimant’s public image and reputation.”
As part of her legal demands, Chinwo is seeking “an order of this Honourable Court directing the Defendant to remove the defamatory posts from all his social media platforms.” She also demands that VeryDarkMan publicly retract his statements and issue “an unreserved apology to the Claimant in two widely circulated national dailies and all his social media platforms.”
The lawsuit also requests, “an order of this Honourable Court directing the Defendant to cause a retraction of the said defamatory statement in favour of the Claimant on all his social media platforms and to publish an unreserved apology to the Claimant in four national dailies, causing same to run for at least 14 consecutive days.”
Additionally, Chinwo is demanding financial compensation, stating, “AN ORDER of this Honourable Court directing the Defendant to pay to the Claimant the sum of ₦1,000,000,000.00 (One Billion Naira) only as General Damages for defamation.” She is also seeking “₦100,000,000.00 (One Hundred Million Naira) only as Punitive and Aggravated Damages for the grossly defamatory statement.”
Her lawsuit further requests, “AN ORDER of this Honourable Court directing the Defendant to pay the sum of ₦25,000,000.00 (Twenty-Five Million Naira) as the cost of this suit.” In addition, she is seeking “10% (Ten percent) on the judgment sum per annum until final liquidation of the judgment sum by the Defendant.”
This legal battle has attracted public attention as it unfolds, with Chinwo’s lawsuit raising concerns about the impact of social media activism on high-profile disputes.
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