A Case for Linda Ikeji

Linda Ikeji, the most successful Nigerian blogger was

recently accused of plagiarism. She wasn’t sued but  majority had already sentenced her to death.

Fortunately, Google has found her not guilty. Mr. Ayedee whose real name has

been rumoured to be Muhktar or Emmanuel or both  claims she used content from his blog without

his permission or giving him due credit. Linda insists it’s not true; she

didn’t seek permission but she credited him.(The post was taken down). She

further adds that she has no time to wait for permission as she’s in the

business of breaking News but she always adds ‘culled from’. Is this enough? I

do not know.  I’m no lawyer. But from a lay man’s perspective,

I did not think Ayedee’s case would survive in court. I was really hoping this

would end up there so I would be proved right or right.

I am not a big fan of  Linda and here’s why. I’m uncomfortable about

people who display their material wealth. 

It worries me that owning Prada bags have become more important than

content of character. I feel that celebrities birthed this trend. From the

musician who posts pictures of his new house online to the actress who

instagrams her entire shopping trip in Italy, one designer bag after another, to

Linda who recently posted pictures of her newly acquired Range Rover.  

What are we teaching our children? But I

respect the young lady. She’s worked very hard and she’s made me very proud of

my generation and gender. This is a clear case of building something, something

very big out of nothing. I stood up for her because I felt she was being

bullied. I still do not understand why we chose to swallow an anonymous

blogger’s allegations hook, line and sinker and completely disregarded

Linda’s. I believe in crime and punishment but it must be in a bid to correct and not to destroy. Linda's case seems to be to me, a matter

of class. How dare Linda succeed when she didn’t go to an Ivy league

university, when she didn’t return from the Diaspora to show us how to do

things, when she doesn’t speak with an acquired accent?

Ikhide Iheloa, a literary critic pointed out that while he

is not dismissing the allegations against Ms. Ikeji, he wanted to understand why

she was being singled out, he reminded us of an online magazine

who still owe him money and other atrocities they commited, If

anyone responded to him, I missed it or they missed  his Tweets. They were too busy

chanting crucify Linda! Someone even said, in justifying Google’s take down of

her blog, that she had gotten away with murder for too long and it was time

justice caught up with her. Hian! It reminded me of our political class,

patting politicians on the back for stealing millions, and sentencing a goat

thief to life imprisonment. This is Nigeria. We choose whom we love. And hate.

I am a writer, as such I understand intellectual property.  But Ms Ikeji is one of the very few young

women who have excelled at her craft with very little or no help. It is not

what she does but how she does it. That girl is diligent!  We should seek to build and not destroy her.

Did any one of the intellectuals write her,since they know so much, telling her to

stop using other people’s content? Did anyone reach out to her to help her take

LIB to the next level? She could be Nigeria’s Oprah. LIB could easily become a

talk show, a TV station, and more but she cannot do it alone.  We cannot continue to berate the younger

generation while we make no attempts at helping them grow. Mark didn’t build

Facebook alone. People  identified the

talent, the potential and helped him take it to the next level.  Nigerian youths deserve the same if they must

shine bright.

Ironically, the person who encouraged her would turn around

to be the person who would seek to destroy her. 

History has shown that many people who bring cases on Twitter are

seeking vengeance and not justice. People who want justice go to courts of law.

But Nigerians do not remember history.

Even when it repeats itself a thousand times.

In a lot of ways, Linda reminds me of Nollywood. An industry

that has built itself from nothing and is constantly condemned by the middle/

upper middle class.( I initially typed upper class but upper class people don’t

watch films, do they?)Why? Because it didn’t come from them.  A people with basic or no education built

Nollywood and sustained it. As Linda Ikeji built her blog. Deal with it.

Can I sit on the fence?

Long ago, when I was an active blogger, I wrote on homosexuality. My stance was and still is: I cannot judge what I do not understand.

This is probably one of those articles one should use an alias but I will brave the verbal stones that will be thrown my way, and use my name.

I’ve heard from the pro-gay and the anti-gay. Now, I will attempt to speak for those of us who are neither here nor there.

I’m curious about what brought on the bill. Did an important wife find her husband in bed with another man? In Nigeria we have learnt that there’s always more to it than meets the eye.

I think a lot of the anti-gay people are extreme in their stance but so are the pro-gays.  I do not have the right to decide for you your sexual preferences but neither do you have the right to insist that I accept them.  If it is live and let live as you claim, then should you not also let me live? I think both parties should give each other respect and perhaps space, then the road might begin to smoothen out.

Since the announcement of the gay bill, many have lost friends. I, personally have unfollowed and muted several gay activists on twitter.  I do not have anything against people. How can I? But I have everything against someone trying to beat me up to accept or fight the homosexuality battle.

I stand against violence against women and rape etc. Some other people are fighting poverty and global hunger etc. We all reserve the right to choose our battles. If you want to fight for the gay, by all means, do so. But to insist that I must do so with you is to trample on the same right of choice that you accuse us of trampling upon yours.

In our very gossip filled industry, I have come to believe that some people are gay for pay. We hear stories of who is sleeping with one big man or the other. I cannot judge them anymore than I can judge the married woman who spends weekends in Abuja, sometimes to her husband’s knowledge.  Perhaps some people are biologically homosexual. I do not know.

I have friends that are gay. I love them dearly and cannot be bothered about their sexuality, the same way I do not expect them to be bothered about mine.  But it seems to me that often, the gay is asking to be defined by his sexuality. This is what bothers me.

I will only define people by the content of their character; not by their religion, nor class, nor race, nor sexual preference nor anything else the world might come up with tomorrow.

I agree that criminalising homosexuality is unjust and unfair. It should not be our business what two consenting adults get up to particularly behind their closed doors.

At a recent festival, a gay film was screened, when two teenage girls started to kiss, I stepped out. I was uncomfortable. The act makes me uncomfortable. I will not apologise for my discomfort. But my discomfort does not in any way make it a criminal offence.

I refuse to judge homosexuals. The Lord alone reserves that right, and He will do so on judgement day.  But if you’re asking me to accept homosexuality; I can’t. Forgive me.