In the evening of May 7, someone tagged me on a Facebook post with the comment: “This piece was written by ‘Fisayo Soyombo; acknowledge the author, please”.

I took a quick look. It was my Twitter thread on FMC Azare.
1/12

Well over 24 hours after I published it, a certain ‘Yetunde Morenikeji Ajani Adeniyi Raji Foundation – YAAR’ had passed it off as hers on Facebook.

She plagiarized my 464-word piece word-for-word; only that she added a 26-word prelude of her own.
2/12

She ran it as though the entire piece was originally hers.

I asked her why she was passing off my work as hers and told her it was a “dishonourable and despicable” thing to do.

She ignored me; instead some of her almost 40,000 followers attacked me.
3/12

Not until I reminded her that someone who’s had the encounters she listed in her bio shouldn’t be found in dishonour did she show up.

And when she did, it was attack upon attack. She claimed I wanted credit for my work because I was chasing fame and money.
4/12

She insisted someone had sent her the piece and for that reason I couldn’t claim credit for it.

This was even after I’d sent her the link to the copy I ran the previous day and the COVID-19 series I’d been running since early April.
5/12

Since she wouldn't budge, I asked Facebook to take down the post on the grounds of plagiarism.

Shortly after, YAAR’s lawyers wrote me saying my "intellectual theft" comments were ‘defamatory” and asking that I pay N100million for damages within seven days, or else…
6/12

Since circulating that letter online, YAAR has gone about bragging — accompanied by screenshots of my Facebook profile and photo — about how I’m just her “boy” and how she’d put me in my place.
7/12

Well, I’m happy to report that after concluding its investigations yesterday, Facebook has now taken down the post from YAAR’s wall (see Screenshot 4) for “violating the Facebook Statement of Rights and Responsibilities”, which is an “intellectual property issue”.
8/12

However, this shouldn't be the end of the matter. I am, by this post, encouraging YAAR’s lawyers to not only proceed to court as they’ve threatened but to raise their N100m demand to N200m.
9/12

I hope they can prove to a court of law that plagiarism is right and that Facebook was also wrong in taking down an infringing post.

To state it clearly, we encourage free information dissemination and commend everyone who works daily this period...
10/12

...to secure right of access to information especially during the pandemic.

In all, this issue has not been about whether information should be shared but it's about the unethical conduct of publishing another person's writing as yours instead of...
11/12

taking out the news element and writing your own report as you’re legally entitled to.

To all who do this for public good, we’re partners. But to those who appropriate our toil and are still the first to run to lawyers to sue us, it would be super cool to meet up in court.