Social media critic VeryDarkMan has broken his silence following a video circulating online where he allegedly played a leaked voice note of President Bola Tinubu begging opposition politician Peter Obi to step down.
VeryDarkMan, who revealed he is currently out of the country, dismissed the allegations and expressed anger over the position taken by the Special Adviser on Information and Strategy to the President, Bayo Onanuga.
He claimed the controversy is part of a coordinated agenda against him by the authorities.
“You see this voice note, I will not defend it. Now they have mouth to talk, whereas bandits went to kidnap school children and teachers in Oyo State, where were they? It’s only stupid people that will believe that video,” VeryDarkMan said.
VDM’s reaction comes after the Presidency condemned the audio file on Wednesday morning. Onanuga labeled the clip a complete fabrication and called for legal action against the social media critic.
“This VDM needs to face the weight of the law for being the conveyor and disseminator of a fake audio of President Tinubu. This is a clear case of an egregious abuse of the social media platform.,” Onanuga tweeted.
In the viral AI video, VeryDarkMan was seen allegedly playing a voice note in which an AI-generated voice resembling the president said, among other things, that he urged Obi to step down for him.
On Saturday, President Tinubu secured the presidential ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in a landslide nationwide direct primary election. During that contest, Tinubu faced a lone challenger, Edo State businessman and APC chieftain Stanley Osifo. The President won with 10,999,162 votes from the 12,643,306 registered party members, while Osifo secured 16,503 votes.
Meanwhile, Peter Obi, who finished third in the 2023 election, is widely expected to fly the flag for the Nigerian Democratic Congress (NDC). Both Obi and Tinubu hail from the southern region of Nigeria and are set to face last year’s runner-up, Atiku Abubakar, who is expected to lead the ticket of the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
