Femi Falana, a human rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), has questioned why the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) invited social media activist Martins Vincent Otse, popularly known as VeryDarkMan (VDM), as a panellist at its ongoing annual general conference in Port Harcourt.

New Telegraph had earlier reported that VeryDarkMan spoke at a panel session on Tuesday titled “Known Gunmen or Unknown Gunmen”.

The controversial social media influencer spoke about his experiences covering insecurity and visiting communities affected by killings and attacks.

His appearance at the Conference has, however, generated mixed reactions among lawyers and other commentators, with some questioning the decision and others defending it.

READ ALSO:

Speaking on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Thursday, Falana said that the session would have been better handled by an individual with professional experience in the country’s security architecture.

He argued that discussions on national security should feature people with demonstrable experience in the field.

This is as Falana compared the invitation to bringing an individual without relevant professional experience to address media practitioners on press freedom.

“In those days, the NBA brought Individuals who had paid their dues, who had who were coming to engage lawyers intellectually. We wanted to learn from them, and so none of our conferences was a circus show in the past, you know.

“So, if you are bringing in an expert to discuss the security of the country, either from the private or public sector, such an individual must have contributed to the security architecture of the country.

“But when you bring people who have nothing to do with the security of the country, there are problems.

“It’s like talking about media freedom, press freedom. You are going to bring practitioners in that field, either in academics or in the newsroom.

“But to just go and bring somebody from nowhere to come and entertain you, there are problems with that. And I think that was the problem associated with that particular lecturer, I mean an individual,” he said.

Please follow and like us: