{"id":26105,"date":"2026-01-19T18:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-19T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.funminews.com\/?p=26105"},"modified":"2026-01-19T16:54:21","modified_gmt":"2026-01-19T15:54:21","slug":"who-owns-ratel-activist-movement-faces-corporate-takeover","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/19\/who-owns-ratel-activist-movement-faces-corporate-takeover\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cWho Owns Ratel? Activist Movement Faces Corporate Takeover\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><br><strong>Lagos, Nigeria (FN)<\/strong> \u2014 What began as a name has exploded into one of Nigeria\u2019s most vicious public feuds. Activist <em>VeryDarkMan<\/em> (VDM) and crypto mogul <em>Blord<\/em> are locked in a war over \u201cRatel,\u201d a word that has become both a cultural rallying cry and a corporate trademark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>VDM, whose \u201cRatel Movement\u201d has galvanized thousands of young Nigerians, insists the honey badger-inspired name belongs to the people. His followers chant \u201cRatels forever\u201d as a symbol of defiance against corruption.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But Blord, who recently unveiled his <em>Ratel App<\/em>, claims legal ownership of the name. He says he trademarked \u201cRatel\u201d and has the right to shut down VDM\u2019s use of it. His lawyers have already issued threats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The clash has spiraled into a spectacle. VDM blasted Blord as a \u201ccorporate thief\u201d trying to hijack a grassroots identity for profit. Blord fired back, branding VDM\u2019s movement \u201cnoise without ownership.\u201d At one point, Blord demanded that Ratels recognize him as their \u201cCEO,\u201d a move critics called delusional.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Social media is ablaze. Some accuse Blord of exploiting culture for cash, while others argue VDM is clinging to a name he never legally secured. Analysts warn the fight could set a precedent in Nigeria: does cultural symbolism outweigh corporate trademarks?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For now, the honey badger is no longer just a symbol of resilience \u2014 it\u2019s the mascot of a bitter battle between activism and capitalism, with reputations on the line and followers caught in the crossfire.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Lagos, Nigeria (FN) \u2014 What began as a name has exploded into one of Nigeria\u2019s most vicious public feuds. Activist VeryDarkMan (VDM) and crypto mogul Blord are locked in a war over \u201cRatel,\u201d a word that has become both a cultural rallying cry and a corporate trademark. VDM, whose \u201cRatel Movement\u201d has galvanized thousands of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":26106,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2096,25,18,3],"tags":[3986,3987,3982,3984,3985,3983],"class_list":["post-26105","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economics","category-entertainment","category-lifestyle","category-naija-news","tag-activismvscapitalism","tag-honeybadgerbattle","tag-nigeriadrama","tag-ratelwar","tag-trademarktyranny","tag-vdmvsblord"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.funminews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Blord-VDM.jpg?fit=1030%2C438&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26105","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26105"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26105\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26107,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26105\/revisions\/26107"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26106"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}