Social media activist Martins Vincent Otse, popularly known as VeryDarkMan, has apologised to soldiers, police officers, customs and immigration personnel over his controversial remarks at the Nigerian Bar Association’s 66th Annual General Conference.

Otse, in a video shared on Friday, said he had reflected on his speech and realised that his comments were unfair to security personnel who were genuinely risking their lives to protect Nigerians.

Speaking at the conference in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Otse had described military, police, immigration and customs personnel as “unknown gunmen” while discussing insecurity in the country.

However, in his latest video, he clarified that his remarks were directed at alleged misconduct and corruption by some personnel within the security agencies and were not intended to generalise.

“I don’t think I was fair to a lot of people, particularly the speech where I said that the military are the unknown gunmen, the police are the unknown gunmen, you know, the immigration, the customs,” he said.

Otse said he was particularly concerned about soldiers fighting Boko Haram and other threats in the bush, noting that it was unfair to describe them as unknown gunmen given the sacrifices they were making.

“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,” he said.

He explained that his intention was to draw attention to alleged corruption, information leaks and sabotage by some personnel within the security agencies.

“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,” he said.

The activist admitted that the manner in which he presented his argument made it appear as though he was generalising.

He subsequently apologised to the Chief of Defence Staff and the leadership of the security agencies, asking that his apology be extended to personnel serving in dangerous locations.

He also apologised to members of the police, customs and immigration services, as well as families of fallen security personnel.

“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.

Otse maintained that despite his allegations against some personnel, there were still many good and dedicated officers within the security agencies.

He said he feared his remarks could discourage soldiers fighting in the bush if they came across the video.

“Imagine a soldier fighting in the bush and he watches VDM’s video, and he’s like, ‘Ah, VDM is one of us now, unknown gunman.’ That would discourage him, to be honest,” he said.

The activist, who has previously raised allegations of misconduct against security personnel, said his interactions with some police officers had also exposed him to challenges within the force.

He urged security personnel genuinely protecting the country not to be discouraged by his comments.

“And please don’t be discouraged. We’re there behind you now, and we’ll always support you. You know, and we are part of this thing, security is for all of us,” he said.

Otse, however, maintained his criticism of personnel allegedly involved in sabotage, arms supply and leaking information to terrorists.

“But then again, to the bad eggs, your days are numbered,” he said.

The apology comes amid controversy over Otse’s appearance and comments at the NBA conference. Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana, had criticised the decision to feature him at the event and called for experienced speakers to handle specialised discussions.

Otse subsequently defended his invitation and later mocked the backlash by appearing in a lawyer’s wig and gown in a video.

His latest apology also follows a separate controversy over his claims that some police officers at checkpoints allegedly pass information about wealthy travellers to kidnappers. The police had challenged him to provide evidence of the allegation.

In his latest video, Otse stressed that his criticism of alleged misconduct should not be interpreted as hostility towards security agencies as a whole.

“I actually know more than the people I was trying to communicate with, so it was not really communicated properly,” he said.

He concluded by urging Nigerians to support security personnel genuinely fighting to protect the country and honour the fallen heroes.