Popular Nigerian social media personality and influencer, Martins Vincent Otse, widely known as VeryDarkMan, has been arrested by the Nigerian police in Abuja on the orders of Guaranty Trust Bank (GTBank), following his public complaints about alleged unauthorised debits from his mother’s bank account.
Confirming the arrest on Friday, Barrister Deji Adeyanju, legal counsel for VeryDarkMan, said officers of the Nigeria Police Force apprehended his client at Area 3, Abuja.
The arrest was reportedly initiated by GTBank after VeryDarkMan made complaints about repeated debits from his mother’s account in the name of loan repayments.
Adeyanju said, “My client, VeryDarkMan, was arrested today in Abuja by the Nigerian police. His only offence was speaking out about suspicious and repeated debits from his mother’s GTBank account for loans she never took.”
Earlier, VeryDarkMan took to his social media platforms to express his concerns about multiple deductions from his mother’s account.
In a post that has since gone viral, he revealed that they visited a GTBank branch in Abuja to demand an explanation and obtain a copy of her bank statement.
“Myself and my mom just arrived at GTBank to get an explanation for the constant debit from her account by GTBank in the name of loan repayments that she never took. In this year alone, see the amount of times she has been debited with different amounts,” he wrote.
“We have requested her bank statements so we know when the debiting started. So far, in this year alone, there have been more than seven debits on loan repayments. GTBank staff are cooperating—hopefully, we’ll know why they keep doing this.”
In a related incident reported by SaharaReporters on April 14, 2025, Ariyo Ahmed Adewale accused Guaranty Trust Bank (GTBank) of orchestrating his arrest after he staged a protest inside one of its Lagos branches over the alleged disappearance of funds from his account.
Ariyo said he had gone to the GTBank branch in the Kosofe area of Lagos to demand answers after discovering unauthorised transactions exceeding ₦2 million had been carried out on his account. He claimed the transactions were linked to the online shopping platform Jumia — a service he maintains he has never used.
“On Saturday, the 7th of last week, I discovered that N2,000,000 had been debited from my GTBank account without my authorisation,” Ariyo said.
“As soon as I noticed the transaction, I immediately called GTBank customer care to report the incident and request that my account be blocked. Unfortunately, before they could act, the unauthorised transactions had already increased.”
According to him, the bank claimed the transactions were made using his debit card on Jumia, but Ariyo disputed this.
“I have never used Jumia in my life. I didn’t authorise any purchases or payments, and my card was with me the entire time. My phone was also with me—nobody else had access to it,” he said.
To clarify things, he visited the GTBank branch in Kosofe to request a detailed account statement.
