A Lagos State High Court sitting in Ikeja on Tuesday struck out a preliminary objection in the N1 billion defamation suit filed by prominent human rights lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN), and his son, award-winning rapper Folarin Falana, popularly known as Falz, against social media influencer Vincent Otse, also known as VeryDarkMan.
Justice Mathias Dawoodu made the ruling after it was revealed that the main suit is already pending before another court, rendering the current proceedings before his court redundant.
The Falanas had filed the defamation suit seeking redress for alleged false and damaging statements made by VeryDarkMan on social media platforms. However, with the development, the legal battle now shifts focus to the court already handling the primary case.
Both the Falanas and Otse were absent from the court session. However, the defence counsel, N.O. Alagbe, standing in for lead counsel Marvin Omorogbe, informed the court about an application filed on April 14, 2025, seeking to stay proceedings pending a judgment by Justice Azeez on a similar matter.
Justice Dawoodu responded that the application was not before him and questioned why the case was being entertained in his court when the substantive issue was already before another judge.
On his part, the Falanas’ counsel, Omotayo Olatunbosun, acknowledged receiving the application late on Monday, but insisted the preliminary objection was properly scheduled for hearing.
He accused the defence of trying to delay the matter and referenced a Supreme Court decision stating that courts are not obliged to act on documents not yet in their files.
Despite this argument, Justice Dawoodu ruled that the situation did not justify continuing with the case. “Consequently, this suit is hereby struck out,” he declared.
The defamation suit, filed by the Falanas, seeks N500 million each in damages over a video posted by Otse on his social media accounts.
In the video, Otse allegedly accused Femi Falana of demanding N10 million from controversial crossdresser Idris Okuneye, popularly known as Bobrisky, to obstruct justice.