On Tuesday, an Ikeja High Court dismissed the defamation case brought against Instagram star Martins Otse, known as Verydarkblackman (VDM).
Human rights lawyer Mr. Femi Falana (SAN) and his son, Folarin, who is widely recognized as Falz, initiated the lawsuit against VDM. Falana took legal action after a cross-dresser named Bobrisky accused him and his son of misusing justice in an audio recording.
The Falanas are seeking N500 million each in damages due to a video VDM shared on his social media accounts.
However, Mr. Niyi Alagbe, representing VDM and working for Mr. Marvin Omorogbe, informed the court that he had previously submitted a request to pause the proceedings before Justice Fimisola Azeez. In response, Mr. Omotayo Olatunbosun, the lawyer for the Falanas, stated that he received this application on Monday around 4:15 p.m. Olatunbosun argued that the main issue for the day was the preliminary objection, which he believed was ready for hearing, and that the new application was intended to delay the process.
Olatunbosun urged the judge to continue with the scheduled matters. Justice Matthias Dawodu noted that the application was not in the case file and questioned why he was being asked to handle a case that was already with another judge. He decided to dismiss the suit, stating that pursuing it further would be pointless since the main case was already before a different court. “Therefore, this suit is hereby dismissed,” he declared.
