Photo courtesy of Bing Images.

The tweet above is from the man Linda has accused of witch hunting her blog with a recent claim of copyright infringement. The journalist with the twitter handle ‘AyeDee” claims he flagged Google, a California based company and owners of Blogger, the publishing platform Linda Ikeji uses, about alleged plagiarism/copyright infringement of his works on Linda Ikeji.blogspot; and that Google has taken them down, along with other infringing works of other authors. (referenced from ).

The honest truth is that I believe Linda Ikeji will come out stronger (if she wants to) as a result of this set back. I sent her an email commiserating with her and I hope she knows I am not ‘beefing’. However, as we all do, I have my thoughts, and I use my blog to share my thoughts. Not all will make sense to many, but it doesn’t make it less important.

The law according to Linda Ikeji is a Nigerian made law exercised by many bloggers. Unfortunately for many, the internet is not confined to Nigeria. I have written about this mess for quite a while now. Far from it. Its not a case of I -told-you-so. Linda has become the victim of plagiarism/copyright  because according to Alexa, she is the No.1 blogger in Nigeria.

December 2013, I penned a post ‘OPEN LETTER TO BLOGGERS‘. in which I cautioned fellow bloggers for their copy and paste formulae. I wrote -” If the truth were to be said, in the real sense of it, Nigerians do not have many GENUINE BLOGGERS. What we have instead are COPY and PASTE website owners disguised as bloggers.” 

I stand by what I wrote almost one year ago. Nothing has changed.

In Nigeria, things are done the other way round. Infringements are encouraged rather than discouraged. Fortunately, operating in cyberspace is a whole different kettle of fish.

I have often been berated for writing too much grammar by some. By that, they meant stories that will not numb the brain. Can’t you see what Linda does? To be very honest with you, I do see it. The fact is that it never has worked for me. My readers are not her readers (no disrespect to her).

What Linda has done perfectly well was to identify her core readers and fed them with what they craved for the most. We Bloggers know Linda has never always been the first to break stories, however, the fact remains she appears to get the most, financially, from stories broken by others. is she to blame for this anomaly?  Heaven no!

Why it appears she is getting a lot of ‘beef’ from many is because of one fundamental error many in the limelight make. 

When a personality in the limelight begins to believe in their hype or begins to believe the hype from others, it is usually a set up for a fall. The world we live in can tolerate, to an extent success. However, success thrown at faces? Like Linda appears to exhibit. Come on Linda? This is why many are not crying for Linda and her white jeep.

 

Photos courtesy of Gist Plaza. Linda Ikeji Just Got Herself brand new 2014 Range Rover  was the headline of the post.

 

What was all that about the newly acquired Jeep? Linda, haven’t you heard of the pregnant keeping quite until her pregnancy can no longer be denied?

Haven’t you heard of Margaret Thatcher’s quote on being a lady?  

“Power is like being a lady… if you have to tell people you are, you aren’t.”

 

How do gauge quality of readers on a blog ? Check out the comments section. For some blogs, you will cringe with embarrassment. For others, you will simply laugh. 

Again, I was kept informed of your money-for-comments scheme you initiated the other time. Only in Nigeria I muttered. Sharing money to people that post comments? On a blog? Yet again, you are not to blame.The culture is. When there is a hungry audience, you are opportune to feed, you oblige. You just perfected the act to stay ahead of the game.

One other issue close to my heart which I had highlighted in the past, asides Copy and Paste bloggers, is the issue of lyrics by Nigerian artists. The main issue here for me is a majority of popular Nigerian artists are shallow. When Nigerian artists begin to act American or bloggers begin to flaunt like Americans, its a problem. This attitude is alien to Africa. There is nothing wrong being authentic to our roots. Make foreigners imitate or emulate Africans for a change. 

Back to Linda. Flaunting your material gains had obviously put you further in the limelight, however, not giving credit where credit is due for stories posted may be tolerated in Nigeria, but not anywhere else on planet earth.

As a result of Linda’s predicament, I predict a sharp fall in the number of emerging bloggers, now that they have to put in a bit more effort in attaining credibility.

There are many journalists and photographers out and about that bloggers can engage. These professionals can be paid for their their service. Materials produced automatically becomes your copyright. This could be a way out for many bloggers. Another way out is to put your thoughts down, just as I am doing right now. It may not come easy for many, but try. Please try. Practice makes perfect, they claim. 

According to an entry in , the definition of BLOG  is : a Web site that contains online personal reflections, comments, and often hyperlinks provided by the writer. There you have it.

Linda’s case has definitely changed the landscape of blogging in Nigeria. This is long overdue.