Activist Verydarkman has apologised to soldiers, police officers, customs and immigration personnel over comments he made at the Nigerian Bar Association’s 66th Annual General Conference.
In a video shared on Friday, September 4, VDM reflected on his speech during a discussion on insecurity, where he referred to military, police, immigration and customs personnel as “unknown gunmen.
He admitted that the remark was unfair to security personnel risking their lives to protect Nigerians, particularly soldiers fighting Boko Haram and other security threats.
VeryDarkMan explained that his criticism was directed at alleged corruption, sabotage and information leaks involving some individuals within security agencies, rather than the personnel as a whole.
He, however, acknowledged that his delivery amounted to a generalisation that could diminish the sacrifices of officers who had lost their lives in the line of duty.
“That speech was not fair, especially to the soldiers that are in the bushes fighting Boko Haram to protect our lands, to protect our lives, and to protect our families.
I don’t think it’s fair to say they are also the unknown gunmen, to be very honest, because these people have laid down their lives. My speech was not to discourage you. My speech was entirely to talk about the bad eggs in our security operative, our security forces, is to put attention on the bad eggs, so that the leaders in these security settings will look inward and to see that sometimes information are being leaked and their own people are sabotaging them,” he said.
VDM subsequently addressed the Chief of Defence Staff and other security authorities, asking that his apology be conveyed to personnel serving in difficult and dangerous conditions.
“So I will go further to say to the Chief of Defence Staff, Sir, I really want to apologise for that speech, and I don’t want to discourage your boys. Please extend my apologies to your boys, to the ones that are in the bush protecting our lands.
To the families of these heroes that might have also felt offended by this speech, knowing fully well that their brother, their sister, their son, their husband fought and died for this country, I am really, really sorry,” he said