Motorist claims police freed him after mentioning VeryDarkMan's name

A Nigerian motorist, Livinus Nwosu, alleges that police operatives in Benin City, Edo State, released him after he invoked the name of social media personality Martins Vincent Otse, widely known as VeryDarkMan (VDM). Nwosu claims he was initially detained by a police special squad over his vehicle's tinted permit.

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These are my papers. I just renewed them. They ought to have expired in 2027. This is my driver’s licence.

In a video posted on Facebook, Nwosu stated that the officers searched his vehicle but found nothing incriminating. He presented his renewed driver's license and vehicle documents, asserting that he had paid over 70,000 naira for the tinted permit, which he displayed on his phone. Despite this, he was taken to the police station.

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They asked after my tinted permit. I showed them because it is on my phone. These people (police operatives) asked them to impound any vehicle with or without a tinted permit.

The situation reportedly changed dramatically once Nwosu informed the officers that he was in Benin on an assignment for VDM. "As I told them (VDM sent me to Benin), they asked me to go," he recounted, adding that the officers then apologized to him.

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The operatives took me to their station. Immediately I got there, I told them I was on an errand for VDM in Benin.

Nwosu questioned the basis for his release if the alleged offense warranted impounding his vehicle. He suggested that the enforcement of car tinted permits in Nigeria amounts to extortion and appealed to the Inspector-General of Police, Olatunji Disu, to investigate the matter. PREMIUM TIMES could not independently verify Nwosu's claims, and the state police spokesperson did not respond to inquiries.

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As I told them (VDM sent me to Benin), they asked me to go. In the end, everybody knows what they are doing.