By Stephanie Shaakaa
The first time I saw my own words staring back at me under someone else’s name, I felt an ache I cannot quite describe. Every sentence, every metaphor, every night of reflection poured into that piece stolen. Not borrowed, not referenced, but taken whole.
Plagiarism is theft. I know, because my original article carefully researched, deeply thought through, and published in Vanguard Newspaper on August 23, 2025 was stolen, rebranded, and published in a business newspaper in Nigeria under the name of Udo Maryanne Okonjo, who even had the audacity to call it “Side-Chick Economics: The Hidden Billions of Secrecy (Part 1)”. Part 1! As though she intends to build an entire series on an idea that is not hers.
