A chief magistrate court in Abuja has issued a warrant of arrest for social media critic VeryDarkMan (VDM).
Justice Emmanuel Iyanna granted the order on Thursday after VDM failed to appear in court on 5th March.
The Judge directed the police and other law enforcement agencies to produce VDM in court to answer charges of criminal defamation.
VeryDarkMan is accused of damaging statements against gospel singer Mercy Chinwo.
He alleged that Chinwo misappropriated funds from her shows without paying her former label, owned by Ezekiel Onyedikachukwu.
He also alleged that Chinwo breached her contractual obligation with the label before they parted ways.
Mercy Chinwo through her lawyer Pelumi Olajengbesi filed a lawsuit against the social media coentstor.
She is seeking N1.1billion damages for what she called “libellous, malicious, spiteful, malevolent and grossly defamatory statements” that has damaged her reputation.
Chinwo’s action demands that VDM retract his statements, delete the posts and issue a public apology.
These are to mitigate the damage to her image.
In another twist, VDM recently posted a snippet of an upcoming diss track against Chinwo on social media.
This has further heightened public and media interest in the case.
The feud between Chinwo and the label, Eezee Concept, started after Chinwo left the label. She accused the label boss Ezekiel Onyedikachukwu, also known as EeZee Tee, of pulling off about $345,000 from her digital platforms and events without disclosure or remittance of her share.
Onyedikachukwu denied the allegation but Chinwo has consistently maintained she was a victim of contractual fraud.
The allegations led to the label boss to call for a financial audit.
This is a big case in the entertainment industry where contractual disputes and public defamation is concerned. More so, studies have shown that defamation and financial mismanagement cases in the industry is on the increase.