A wave of outrage has swept across Nigeria’s social media landscape following the arrest of popular activist and social commentator, VeryDarkMan (VDM), reportedly by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) at a Guaranty Trust Bank (GTBank) branch in Abuja.
The arrest has triggered a massive backlash against the bank, leading to mass account closures and a storm of negative publicity online.
According to online reports and user posts, over 100,000 Nigerians have allegedly emptied or closed their GTBank accounts within the last 24 hours in protest.
In addition, the bank’s official social media pages have been inundated with more than 13,000 reports and complaints, while its mobile app on Apple Store and Google Playstore has suffered a deluge of negative reviews and low ratings.
The situation escalated shortly after GTBank publicly celebrated being the first Nigerian bank to post a N1 trillion profit.
Online critics allege that the bank has now fallen into a reputational crisis shortly after its financial milestone, claiming it was a setup that GTBank “fell for.”
The uproar began when reports emerged that VDM had visited the GTBank branch to file a complaint regarding an unauthorized debit on his mother’s account.
While on the premises, he was allegedly arrested by EFCC officials. GTBank later released CCTV footage showing that VDM was taken away from their premises, fueling suspicions of collusion or lack of due process.
So far, neither GTBank nor the EFCC has issued an official statement regarding the circumstances of VDM’s arrest. However, the lack of transparency has only intensified the online backlash.
A popular influencer on X, @Drpenking, claimed in a tweet that “Over 100,000 Nigerians have emptied their GTBank accounts in protest of VDM’s arrest,” further fanning the flames of digital protest.
As pressure mounts, both the EFCC and GTBank are expected to address the controversy in the coming days.
