VDM's Latest Videos: Nationwide School Boycott, "We Say No to Tinubu in 2027," and a Direct Dare to the Presidency

VDM's Latest Videos: Nationwide School Boycott, "We Say No to Tinubu in 2027," and a Direct Dare to the Presidency

Over the past week, social media activist Martins Vincent Otse, popularly known as VeryDarkMan or VDM, has released a series of videos that have generated significant online reaction. The videos cover three connected themes: the Oyo school abductions, the state of insecurity under President Tinubu's administration, and his own running confrontation with the Presidency.

Here is a factual account of what he said in each, based on verified reports from multiple news outlets.

Video 1: The Call for a Nationwide School Boycott

In a video posted on Sunday, May 31, 2026, VDM called on all Nigerian public school teachers to stop work starting Monday, June 1, 2026, and urged parents to keep their children at home until the teachers and pupils abducted from three schools in Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State on May 15 are released.

His exact words, as reported by PM News Nigeria: "As a public school teacher, this is a time to show solidarity with the teachers in captivity by not going to work, starting from tomorrow, Monday 1st of June 2026, until those in captivity are released."

He also addressed what he described as a tendency among Nigerians to move on too quickly from tragic events. He said: "Nigerians are cursed with one thing, they think it's a blessing but it's a curse, they know how to move on quickly. However, on this issue on ground, we are not going to move on until they are released."

VDM argued that only sustained pressure, including disruption of normal school activity, would force the government to treat the matter with the urgency it required.

The call came sixteen days after the attack, during which one teacher, Michael Oyedokun, had been beheaded in captivity, and as 88 children and teachers across Oyo and Borno States remained unaccounted for on Children's Day.

There is no official confirmation of how many teachers or schools responded to his call. The Nigerian government on the same day dispatched a high-level delegation to Ogbomoso, led by Chief of Staff Femi Gbajabiamila, which announced the deployment of a special rescue team and approval of 1,000 forest guards for Oyo State.

Video 2: "We Say No to Tinubu in 2027"

In a separate video shared on June 1, 2026, VDM directly addressed the state of insecurity under President Tinubu and made his position on the 2027 election explicit.

Gistlover reported his words as follows: "Under the watch of President Tinubu, bandits and kidnappers got so bold that they publicly displayed the money they got off their kidnapped victims on TikTok, seen making videos with their ammunition, whipping their victims on videos without even covering their faces, taking children."

He went further, calling on Nigerians to reject Tinubu's re-election bid. "We say no to Tinubu in 2027," he stated.

He also made a call to action: "I don talk am, we need to shut down this country. We need to stop being cowards. What are we going to say to our own generations coming? We need to act now before it is too late."

The video generated widespread reaction on X, with users debating both his characterisation of the security situation and the broader question of whether insecurity had worsened, stayed the same, or improved under the current administration.

The Federal Government has not publicly responded to this specific video.

Video 3: His Response to the Presidency's Legal Threat

Earlier in the week, on May 27, 2026, Presidential aide Bayo Onanuga had posted publicly on X calling for VDM to "face the weight of the law" over an AI-generated audio clip attributed to President Tinubu that had gone viral. Subsequent fact-checking by Dubawa Nigeria found that VDM's original video had been doctored by a third party before circulating widely, and that his original post was reacting to a 2023 campaign video of Tinubu speaking about electricity, not to a fabricated voice note.

VDM responded in a video posted from China, where he said he was on a trip related to a power plant investment project. Daily Post Nigeria reported his words as follows:

"I will not defend the allegations. If I respond, let God punish me. I want to face that law. I will even book a flight to come earlier than I planned. I want to see what you people can do."

He added: "If you are pained that VDM is speaking, what option do I have other than to speak?"

He has since returned to Nigeria. As of June 2, 2026, no formal charges have been confirmed against him in connection with the Onanuga threat.

What Both Sides Are Saying

VDM's position across all three videos is consistent. He argues that the government's response to insecurity, including the Oyo school abductions, has been slow, inadequate and politically selective. He contends that the same administration that moved quickly to threaten a social media critic was slow to respond when children were taken from three schools in broad daylight. He has made clear he will not moderate his criticism ahead of the 2027 elections.

The Presidency's position, as stated by Onanuga, is that VDM spread false and misleading content about the President and that such conduct warrants legal consequences. The government has separately pointed to concrete actions taken on the Oyo abductions, including the high-level delegation, the approval of forest guards and the deployment of a special rescue unit.

Fact-checkers at Dubawa Nigeria have established that VDM's original video was manipulated by a third party before the version involving the fake Tinubu audio circulated widely. A blogger who spread that manipulated version publicly apologised.

The legal threat from the Presidency has not, as of the date of this publication, resulted in a formal charge or arrest.

Context: Who Is VDM?

Martins Vincent Otse, born April 8, 1994 in Abuja, is a social media activist who has been publicly active since 2022. He describes himself as an "online police" and focuses primarily on issues of corruption, government accountability, and social justice. He has a large and engaged following across Instagram, X and YouTube.

He has faced legal challenges previously, including a May 2025 arrest by a joint EFCC, DSS and Police operation at a GTBank branch in Abuja, from which he was released after six days following bail. He also faces a separate defamation case filed by gospel singer Mercy Chinwo in connection with statements he made on social media.

His critics have accused him of making allegations without adequate verification and of using his platform to publicly target individuals in ways they consider defamatory. His supporters describe his work as a necessary form of accountability journalism in an environment where mainstream media does not always hold powerful figures to account.