VeryDarkMan drops 7-minute video as Apostle Arome row enters week two

Martins Vincent Otse, the activist known as VeryDarkMan, posted a 7-minute-44-second video on his Instagram page and YouTube channel on Wednesday, 30 September, keeping up his fight with Apostle Arome Osayi. His caption set the tone: “They ask why I am criticizing the church as of the church is the problem of the country…..let me open your eyes.”

By about 5:40pm WAT the Instagram reel had 93,000 likes and 10,000 comments, and the YouTube upload, titled “The dark side of how the churches and mosques is used by the government to control the people”, had 52,000 views. A copy was also moving fast on X. That copy came from @Verydakman_, an account whose bio says it is not affiliated with Otse.

The row is a week old and still growing. It has pulled in pastors, a Catholic priest and some of Nigeria’s loudest online voices.

What did Apostle Arome Osayi say?

Osayi said Nigeria’s calling as a nation is spiritual revival, not an economy built to compete with China. In the clip Instablog9ja shared on Thursday, 24 September, he said Nigerians were not made to build engines like the Chinese, and Legit.ng quoted him saying: “Our calling as a nation is revival.”

Osayi founded the Remnant Christian Network in December 2006 and runs it from Makurdi, Benue State, according to the ministry’s website. Legit.ng reports that he now lives in the United States as a permanent resident. That detail has become one of VeryDarkMan’s main lines of attack.

Why is VeryDarkMan attacking Apostle Arome?

VeryDarkMan argues that sermons like this keep young Nigerians praying for progress instead of building it. On 27 September he posted a video from a luxury shopping district in China, offering to “exchange prayers for good road”, Legit.ng reported. The same day, he asked critics: “Do you think I was not called too?”

On 29 September his caption announced that the whole week would be spent on “APOSTLE AROME AND HIS SYMPATHIZERS”. On 30 September he criticised a crusade flyer that listed Osayi under the United States, and then posted the new video. In it he ties religion to government and jobs, and to the question of who holds leaders to account.

Who has defended Osayi?

Several ministers have defended Osayi, mainly over how VeryDarkMan spoke about him rather than the sermon itself. Apostle Michael Orokpo told his congregation that anyone mocking another person’s physical appearance had no business advising the nation, Legit.ng reported on 30 September. Femi Lazarus wrote on Instagram that “Apostle Arome is ours” and called the mockery unacceptable.

Solomon Buchi sided with the critics of the sermon. He asked how a country with so many churches still struggles with corruption. In an older Ibadan clip that resurfaced on 28 September, Osayi says critics take one statement out of its context.

A separate clip is also going round, reported by the blog Gistreel on 30 September, in which Osayi describes an encounter with Jesus on a beach in Tanzania. GistMatrix has not seen the full sermon and could not confirm its wording.

What happens next

As of 5:40pm WAT on Wednesday, 30 September, Osayi had not answered VeryDarkMan directly. His latest Instagram post that day was a sermon clip titled “Why We Have No Deep Convictions Today”, and it had comments switched on after Legit.ng reported on 28 September that he had turned them off. VeryDarkMan has promised more videos this week.

FAQ

What is the VeryDarkMan and Apostle Arome row about?
It began when a clip of Apostle Arome Osayi saying Nigeria’s calling is revival, not building engines like China, spread on 24 September 2026. VeryDarkMan answered with videos arguing that this kind of preaching holds Nigeria back.

Who is Apostle Arome Osayi?
Arome Osayi is the founder of the Remnant Christian Network, which he started in December 2006 with its headquarters in Makurdi, Benue State. He worked for 16 years at the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency before focusing on ministry, his ministry says.

Has Apostle Arome replied to VeryDarkMan?
As of 5:40pm WAT on 30 September 2026, he had not addressed VeryDarkMan by name. An older clip in which he says critics take his words out of context resurfaced on 28 September.

Whose side are you on in this one? Tell us in the comments.

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