Social media personality Martins Vincent Otse, popularly known as VeryDarkMan, has threatened to take telecoms giant MTN Nigeria to court over the alleged unauthorised use of his private telephone number for promotional messages about the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals Initial Public Offering.
In a video circulating widely on social media platforms on Monday and Tuesday, VeryDarkMan stated that his lawyers would write to MTN demanding an explanation on how his National Identification Number-linked private line was used to send him advertisements for the refinery’s share offer without his consent. He warned that failure to provide a satisfactory response could lead to legal action.
The influencer went further, describing the entire Dangote Refinery IPO as resembling a Ponzi scheme. He argued that if Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, truly prioritised the welfare of Nigerians, he should instead focus on reducing the prices of essential commodities such as cement, fuel, rice and sugar rather than offering shares at a minimum entry point of about ₦5,250.
“MTN my lawyers will write you. Why was my NIN-linked number used for Dangote IPO ads without my consent? I need an explanation or we’ll meet in court.
Also, the whole Dangote IPO thing looks like a Ponzi scheme to me. if Dangote really cares about Nigerians, he should reduce the price of cement, fuel, rice, and sugar instead of selling refinery shares for 5000 naira,” he said.
The complaint comes as the Dangote Refinery IPO, Africa’s largest share sale to date, opened to the public on Monday, 14 September 2026, triggering an extraordinary wave of investor interest.
The offer comprises 4.1 billion ordinary shares priced at ₦525 each, targeting approximately ₦2.15 trillion (about $1.6 billion). Investors can subscribe for as few as 10 shares, a deliberately low threshold designed to encourage broad retail participation and marketed by Dangote as a “people’s IPO” aimed at democratising ownership of one of the continent’s biggest industrial projects.
Demand was immediate and intense. Reports indicate that subscriptions reached around ₦1.5 trillion within the first few hours of trading, representing a substantial portion of the base offer size. Popular investment platforms including Bamboo and Cowrywise experienced significant disruptions, with users reporting login difficulties and system slowdowns due to the surge in traffic.
Nigerian Exchange Group officials and market operators described the response as exceptional, with some projections suggesting the offer could become heavily oversubscribed before its scheduled close on 13 October 2026.
VeryDarkMan’s intervention has added a layer of controversy to the otherwise buoyant market narrative. While many investors and market commentators have celebrated the scale of participation, the privacy concerns raised by the influencer highlight ongoing debates about data protection, consent for marketing communications, and the use of NIN-linked telephone numbers by service providers.
MTN had not issued a public response to the specific allegations at the time of filing this report.
