VeryDarkMan issued the apology in a video shared on Friday, September 4, after reflecting on a speech in which he referred to personnel from the military, police, immigration and customs services as “unknown gunmen” while discussing insecurity in the country.
He said he had realised that the remark was unfair to security personnel who put their lives at risk to protect Nigerians, particularly soldiers fighting Boko Haram and other threats.
According to the social critic, his criticism was directed at alleged corruption, sabotage and the leaking of sensitive information by some individuals within the security agencies, rather than the security forces as a whole.
He, however, acknowledged that the manner in which he made the comments amounted to a generalisation and could undermine the sacrifices of personnel who had died in the line of duty.
“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.
“I don’t think it’s fair to say they are also the unknown gunmen, to be very honest, because these people have laid down their lives. My speech was not to discourage you,” he said.
VeryDarkMan explained that his intention was to draw attention to what he described as “bad eggs” within the security forces so that their leadership could address alleged cases of information leaks and internal sabotage.
“My speech was entirely to talk about the bad eggs in our security operatives, our security forces, to put attention on the bad eggs, so that the leaders in these security settings will look inward and see that sometimes information is being leaked and their own people are sabotaging them,” he added.
He subsequently addressed the Chief of Defence Staff and other security authorities, asking that his apology be conveyed to personnel serving in dangerous locations.
“So I will go further to say to the Chief of Defence Staff, sir, I really want to apologise for that speech, and I don’t want to discourage your boys. Please extend my apologies to your boys, to the ones that are in the bush protecting our lands,” he said.
VeryDarkMan also apologised to the families of security personnel who may have felt offended by his remarks, particularly those who lost loved ones in the course of service.
“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.
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