Court Bars VDM, Doris Ogala from Referencing Pastor Okafor, Church

Wale Igbintade

Justice Akintunde Savage of the Lagos State High Court in Ikeja yesterday restrained social media influencer, Martins Vincent Otse, popularly known as VeryDarkMan (VDM), an actress, Doris Ogala, and one Kelvin Chimaobi Emmanuel from further mentioning or referring to Dr. Chris Okafor, his church, or ministry on any platform, pending the determination of a substantive suit filed by the cleric.

Okafor is the claimant in the suit marked ID/14399GCMW/2026, while Doris Ogala, VeryDarkMan, and Kelvin Emmanuel are listed as the first to third defendants, respectively.

The ex parte application was brought pursuant to Order 43, Rules 1, 2, and 7 of the High Court of Lagos State (Civil Procedure) Rules 2019, as well as under the court’s inherent jurisdiction.

In his ruling on the application filed by Dr. Okafor through his counsel, Mr. Ife Ajayi, Justice Savage also barred the defendants and their agents from publishing, releasing, or circulating any alleged private materials relating to the claimant, including chats, conversations, text messages, pictures, images, or videos.

Specifically, the court ordered the defendants to refrain from mentioning Dr. Chris Okafor’s name, pictures, images, or videos, as well as the name of his church, Grace Nation International, also known as Liberation City, whether orally or in writing, across social media or any other media platforms.

The Judge further restrained the defendants from releasing to the public or to third parties any materials allegedly intended to blackmail or extort money from the claimant, pending the final determination of the suit.

Justice Savage also granted an order for substituted service of the claimant’s originating processes, including the writ of summons, list of witnesses, statements on oath, and other documents, through publication in a national newspaper.

The matter has been adjourned to February 2, 2026, for hearing.