Nigerian rapper and activist Folarin Falana, widely known as Falz, has addressed recent allegations made by social media influencer Martins Otse, also known as Verydarkman, calling the claims baseless and defamatory.
In an interview on The Afro Beat Podcast, released on Wednesday on YouTube, Falz shared that he was largely unfamiliar with Verydarkman’s activism prior to the controversy.
“I don’t know much of it. I’ll be honest with you,” he stated, acknowledging that he had seen some of the influencer’s early content, particularly related to issues like the sale of unregulated bleaching products.
“At that time when I saw some of those clips, I was like, okay, this person seems to be doing something right. This is a good cause,” he added.
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He said, “All these things are false, basically. So now you have to defend yourself because he who alleges must prove. I’ve gone to court for defamation of character because that’s clearly what this is.”
Falz also clarified recent misreporting, stating that while the court did not order a financial settlement, it did rule that Verydarkman must remove the defamatory video.
He said, “Now, recently it was reported that the court has ordered N500 million to be paid, blah, blah, I mean, that’s false. The case of defamation is still very much in court. Yes, we have instituted proceedings for defamation because, of course, that is what this is.
“That is very much still ongoing. However, there’s something called interim applications, which you can do while a substantive case is still ongoing. You can apply to the court for an injunction because this defamation still subsists.
“This video I speak of is still very much on his page, on his pages. He has not taken them down.”
“The ruling that the court gave was to take this down and desist from any further defamatory remarks pending the determination of this substantive suit. That is what that is.”