Gospel singer Mercy Chinwo has filed a defamation lawsuit against blogger Martins Vincent Otse, popularly known as VeryDarkMan (VDM), at the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The suit arises from alleged defamatory statements made by VDM on social media, accusing Chinwo of involvement in a contractual dispute and the misappropriation of $345,000 linked to her former record label boss, Ezekiel Onyedikachukwu, also known as Eezee Tee. Filed by her legal representative, Pelumi Olajengbesi, the lawsuit seeks a court order compelling VDM to delete, retract, and publicly apologize for all alleged false and damaging statements against Chinwo and her brand. In support of her claims, Chinwo has submitted documentary evidence, including emails and payment receipts, to prove that VDM’s allegations are baseless. Notably, on February 17, 2025, a Federal High Court in Lagos ruled that the arrest warrant against Eezee Tee over alleged fraudulent conversion remains valid, adjourning his arraignment to March 6, 2025. In the fresh defamation suit, Olajengbesi stated that VDM’s posts were made without provocation and were intended to tarnish Chinwo’s reputation. He further emphasized that VDM’s videos and posts, shared on February 2, 3, 4, 5, 12, and 17, falsely accused Chinwo of bypassing her record label to book shows and withholding payments. The lawyer asserted that these claims have significantly harmed Chinwo’s public image, professional standing, and emotional well-being. In the suit, Olajengbesi said VDM posted a series of videos to his millions of followers showing a “caricaturist and disdainful portrayal of the Claimant (Chinwo) as well the Defendant’s (VDM’s) bias towards the claim of Mr. EeZee T thereby deliberately ridiculing the position of the Claimant in the dispute between the Claimant and Mr. EeZee T”. “The Claimant avers that she has neither had any form of relationship with the Defendant nor was the Defendant involved in the issue between the Claimant and Mr. EeZee T in any material particular. “The Claimant avers that the statements which the Defendant made in the videos he published his Instagram page were as though the Defendant was personally involved in the issues between the Claimant and Mr. EeZee T; however, these statements were not only false, but damning and injurious to the Claimant’s public image and reputation.” The lawyer sought “an order of this Honourable Court directing the Defendant to remove the defamatory posts from all his social media platforms. “AN ORDER of this Honourable Court directing the Defendant to cause a retraction of the said defamatory statement in favour of the Claimant on all his social media platforms and to publish an unreserved apology to the Claimant in two widely circulated national dailies and all his social media platforms. “AN ORDER of this Honourable Court directing the Defendants to write an unreserved apology to the Claimant and publish same in four national dailies, causing same to run for at least 14 consecutive days. “AN ORDER of this Honourable Court directing the Defendant to pay to the Claimant the Sum of N1,000,000,000.00 (One Billion Naira) only as General Damages for defamation. “AN ORDER of this Honourable Court directing the Defendant to pay to the Claimant, the Sum of N100,000,000.00 (One Hundred Million Naira) only as Punitive and Aggravated Damages for the grossly defamatory statement. “AN ORDER of this Honourable Court directing the Defendant to pay the sum of N25,000,000.00 (Twenty-Five Million Naira) as the cost of this suit. “AN ORDER of this Honourable Court directing the Defendant to pay 10% (Ten percent) on the judgment sum per annum until final liquidation of the judgment sum by the Defendants.”