Social media activist Martins Vincent Otse, known widely as VeryDarkMan, stormed the Nigerian Air Force headquarters in Abuja on Thursday, leading hundreds of supporters in a demonstration over the country’s worsening security crisis.
The VeryDarkMan protest came just hours after the activist touched down in Nigeria, having spent months in China since March. On his arrival, he addressed supporters of his Ratel movement and took direct aim at President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, according to reports by Ladun Liadi’s Blog.
“Ratel don land, the message is clear: Bola Ahmed Tinubu is a failure and should not come back in 2027,” he told the crowd. “Tinubu must go.”
Security Forces in the Crosshairs
By Thursday morning, the VeryDarkMan protest had moved to the gates of the Air Force base. Videos circulating on social media showed a large crowd accompanying Otse as supporters sat in front of the military facility. Security operatives reportedly blocked them from entering the premises.
Speaking directly to armed personnel, Otse challenged the military to redirect its resources toward fighting criminal groups. As reported by Akelicious, he told personnel: “They are raping our women, beheaded a teacher, our children are still in the bush, and you’re here holding a gun. Are you not ashamed of yourself?”
He questioned why the Air Force, which receives over ₦400 billion in annual budgetary allocation, had failed to suppress banditry and kidnapping across northern communities. “Nigeria Air Force, if you have bullets to shoot us, you should also have bullets to shoot kidnappers and bandits. Take your aircraft to the bush and shoot them,” he said, as quoted by GistReel.
A Budget Under Scrutiny
The figures Otse cited are not far off the mark. Nigeria’s 2026 Appropriation Bill allocates ₦407.15 billion to the Nigerian Air Force alone, according to a Vanguard breakdown of the defence budget. Personnel costs account for ₦229.90 billion of that sum, with capital expenditure set at ₦110.67 billion, largely earmarked for aircraft maintenance, upgrades and aviation infrastructure. The wider Ministry of Defence received ₦3.154 trillion for the year, as reported by Vanguard, making it one of the heaviest line items in the federal budget.
Nigeria’s overall defence and security allocations have climbed sharply in recent years, rising from ₦2.41 trillion in 2022 to ₦6.57 trillion in 2025, before the current year’s allocation. Despite that spending, kidnapping, banditry and community attacks have continued across the north. Kidnapping for ransom accounted for 40 per cent of terrorist and bandit funding in Nigeria between 2018 and 2024, according to Intelpoint, suggesting that criminal groups have sustained themselves even as defence outlays grew.
The VeryDarkMan protest was driven largely by frustrations over that apparent disconnect between rising security budgets and persistent insecurity. For Otse and the protesters gathered outside the Air Force base on Thursday, those numbers made his central question difficult to dismiss.
Reactions Divide Online
The VeryDarkMan protest drew sharp reactions on X. One user, @JohnsonLyor, praised Otse, writing: “This is commendable. Where are all the other social media activists? Time for Nigerians to ask the right question.” Another, @donholyma, posted that Otse “went straight to the Air Force base to ask the real question; you people collect over 400 billion every year, yet insecurity is still killing us every single day.”
Others were more sceptical. @Real_Akinkunmi warned: “It’s about to be a very long movie. I really want to see if heaven will fall.”
Who Is VeryDarkMan?
Otse founded the Ratel movement, which he has described as a grassroots civic platform operating as a “fourth arm of government” in Nigeria. Named after the honey badger, the movement gained prominence through community service drives last year, mobilising volunteers across Lagos, Abuja, Kaduna, and other cities.
The VeryDarkMan protest also shows how the Ratel movement has evolved from an online community into a platform for public demonstrations on national issues.
In late 2025, Otse opened a Ratel office in Abuja to receive public complaints on community issues, according to Wikipedia’s entry on VeryDarkMan.
The movement has also attracted criticism, with some observers alleging that segments of its online following have been mobilised to target individuals who express dissenting views.
The VeryDarkMan protest drew no immediate response from the Nigerian Air Force or the presidency as of Thursday afternoon.
