Social-media influencer Martins Vincent Otse — known online as VeryDarkMan (VDM) — posted videos on his Instagram account describing an encounter with suspected kidnappers while travelling, and those clips have been picked up by news sites and reaction channels across platforms. In the posts VDM shared short reels showing chaotic roadside scenes and his account of what happened; those posts are on his Instagram feed.
Local and online outlets amplified the story after the Instagram videos circulated: several YouTube reportorial clips and fast-turnaround news pages summarized the claim that an ambush took place on a road in Edo State, that passengers were threatened, and that VDM intervened and later posted about the incident. Some reports say he chased the attackers and helped rescue at least one victim, while others show shortened eyewitness clips of a struggle or a near-snatch of a phone.
The social-media reaction has been immediate: X/Twitter posts and Instagram comment threads range from praise for VDM’s bravery to alarm about the rising insecurity on Nigeria’s roads. Video uploads and short-form reaction content on YouTube and TikTok have further spread the footage and claims, with creators summarizing and debating whether VDM’s footage shows an attempted kidnapping or a different roadside scuffle.
Multiple outlets place the event within a broader context of rising abductions and road ambushes in parts of southern Nigeria, including Edo State, where vigilante action and mob justice have at times complicated responses to suspected kidnappings. Several recent incidents in the region have heightened public sensitivity to such roadside attacks.
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