Singer Terry Apala has issued a pre-action notice to social media critic VeryDarkMan over allegations that he bribed officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
In a video posted on Instagram in March, VeryDarkMan had claimed that Apala and DJ Tunez honoured an invitation from the EFCC, alleging that the pair were made to pay between $5,000 and $6,000 each to avoid the type of scandal that recently befell crossdresser Bobrisky.
According to the critic, their phones were seized and they were taken to different locations during the visit. He also accused EFCC officials of abusing their office and “obtaining” celebrities.
“EFCC are very corrupt, the corruption has eaten them deep and a lot of them take advantage of their office to obtain young boys on the street and now, moving fast to start obtaining some celebrities,” he said.
But in a cease-and-desist letter dated April 24 and issued through Apala Fusion Limited, Terry Apala described the bribery allegation as false, damaging and baseless.
“I, Terry Alexander Ejeh, am writing to formally demand that you immediately take down and/or publicly correct that video you posted earlier this year on Instagram, where you falsely accused me of bribing the honorable officers of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission. Your accusations are completely untrue and have defamed my character, as well as damaged the reputation of the EFCC,” the letter read in part.
“I want to state very clearly that this bribery allegation is a total lie and has no basis in reality, especially recently. I have never bribed anyone, nor have I been involved in any kind of financial corruption with any organization or individual, whether public or private.”
The singer went on to explain that he was not in Nigeria during the time of the alleged bribery.
“What’s worse, I was in and out of Nigeria trying to make ends meet, when this supposed bribery allegation happened. My passport and travel records clearly show I was in the United Kingdom from January to February. Then, from February to March, I was observing a spiritual retreat for Ramadan and Easter. After that, I traveled to South Africa to finish a performance I had already been paid for and had a visa for since November 2024. I only returned to Nigeria from South Africa on April 20th, 2025.”
Terry said the accusation should be retracted immediately to protect the integrity of the EFCC and clear his name.
“It deeply troubles me that this unfounded accusation is being spread around without any proof. It needs to be publicly refuted quickly to protect the integrity of the EFCC and to clear my name from this unfair connection.”
He gave VeryDarkMan 48 hours to comply, demanding a written apology and public retraction.
“I demand that you issue a public written apology and retraction, both to me and to the EFCC, clearly stating that your accusations were false and unsupported by any evidence.
“Stop making any more false, misleading, or defamatory statements about me.”
