Nigeria has seen service-oriented men and women who deploy their strength of youth to advance the life of others. But VDM is on another level. He’s a man aware of his space, aware of the dynamics of life and is not fazed to accept the truism that the best duty is a life of service to humanity.

Now, you know him. Martins Vincent Otse, popularly known as VeryDarkMan (VDM). Now, you see him, a hunky dark guy just turned 31. There he goes, brazen out challenges with his broad chest perfecting a well-toned body built in the order of the fabled soldiers of the ancient Roman empire.

He is VDM. The leader of the Ratels. The voice of the voiceless. The revelation of the modern era. You can’t ignore his baddie looks; as much as you can’t ignore his voice. Neither fake nor forged, VDM is original. A revolutionary. Philanthropist. Social media influencer. Crusader for social justice. Human rights activist. Street smart. Street wise with good dose of common sense. Troubler of elite crooks. Nemesis of oppressors. Friend of the youth, the poor. A raw, plucky Nigerian breed endowed with courage, Jewish chutzpah, and strength of bull.

Here he comes. His dress sense is weird. Raggedy and natty. Just stuff that barely covers his body. But that is a strength. His barely clad appearance contrasts with his gift of presence. When he arrives, the ambience sizzles. His presence generates a benign buzz. The boys yell in animated solidarity. The girls simply stand and stare, in awe of his muscular tonality, the heavy biceps and triceps that swing on both arms. He commands the milieu. He dictates the tune and the tone. His social media handles are busy and in demand. Offline and online, VDM is engaged and enraged.

VDM, aside blessed with good physique, is also gifted with a sweet soul. The soul that serenades the heart of the troubled. He fights for the poor. He cries when they cry. He feeds the hungry. A soothing companion for the abandoned. In Nigeria, Ghana and everywhere, his silhouette casts a shadow of goodness for many. Doing charity is to him a pleasure; a calling, a pact with divinity. Taking the bullet for any person crushed under the weight of elite repression is a norm. Paying school fees, medical bills for the indigent, minding the rent of the destitute, sinking borehole for famished and thirsty communities, renovating schools and building same, among other acts of kindness form the listings on his service menu.

Nigeria has seen service-oriented men and women who deploy their strength of youth to advance the life of others. But VDM is on another level. He’s a man aware of his space, aware of the dynamics of life and is not fazed to accept the truism that the best duty is a life of service to humanity. He lives such life of service, a life of sacrifice. He takes risks; he absorbs pain for the comfort of the proletariat. For the rights of the impoverished. He is the voice raging against the bogey of corruption. When others live in denial and ignore, conveniently, the big elephant in the room, to wit, corruption, VDM raises his voice. He points the nation to the clan of thieving leaders; to graft even among those recruited and appointed to fight graft; he wheels the attention of the youth to those who have stolen both their tomorrow and their today. An activist for righteousness and an unrelenting crusader for good governance and accountability. VDM is no saint. Never ascribed sainthood to himself. But he subscribes to a life of moderation. He abhors the culture of wanton looting especially among public office holders.

He does not just deprecate the looters in private, he makes an open show of their illicit lusting for every morsel of bribe; every bite of the stolen candy from the nation’s cookie jar. They say when you fight corruption, corruption fights back; threatening to devour you in its tidal waves of vengeful fury. VDM has experienced the vicious reciprocal jabs of corruption and the corrupt. For daring to expose the merchants of greed and graft, he has been made to take up temporary tenancy in the cold custody of various security agencies. Even this has not assuaged his anger against the carefully knitted web of corruption holding down the nation and impacting negatively on the poor.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the police and others have taken turns to arrest or invite him for some ‘friendly talk.’ He has called out top lawyers including Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs), governors, ministers, correctional centre officials and just about anybody caught in his anti-corruption radar. He has been sued and re-sued for alleged defamation of character by integrity-deficient persons. He has been accused of cyberbullying certain persons who themselves are bullies on the public stage. But he remained unbowed; unbroken.

Of course, he’s a ratel; even king of ratels. Ratels are aggressive carnivores. They push through barriers and boundaries to get to bee nests just to feast on grubs and honey. Ratels are fearless mammals. VDM and his legion of ratels typify this specie of the weasel family (Mustelidae), also identified by its scientific name Mellivora capensis. Ratels are built to claw their way through contours and crusted barriers just to get to the bee nests. Ratels don’t quit. They don’t beat a retreat. They are resilient, an attribute that has kept them strutting in the ecosystem especially when some of their kind had become extinct.

But VDM is beyond the manifestations of a ratel. He is a force of righteous anger, a symbol of audacity and people power. He represents a younger generation of Nigerians who demand change, social justice and a system that rewards merit and integrity. Harassing and frequently arresting this natural ruler of Rateldom only makes him and his band of ratels stronger and more devoted to their cause.

Nigeria is a democracy. Every democracy needs a VDM, a symbol of free speech, freedom of association, freedom of movement and sundry civil liberties. Recently, there has been a spike in the zeal of security agencies to arrest VDM or threaten him with arrests. Don’t come here. Don’t go there, they warn.

Last week, despite Anambra police warnings, VDM still attended a candlelight procession in honour of the late Managing Director of Fish Magnet firm, Ifesinachi Onyekere (aka Fish Magnet), who was abducted and murdered by suspected gunmen in Awka. This is misplaced priority on the part of the police. The Force should strive to scale down and track the perpetrators of the wanton killings in the state and in Nigeria in general. Let VDM be. Democratic Nigeria needs him and his ratels.