The media space has recently been awash with news of popular blogger Linda Ikeji receiving a lump sum of 240 million naira from the purse of the federal government, monies that were supposed to be spent on arms.
the accusations were brought to the fore by Kemi Olunloyo, a pharmacist turned blogger and social media activist.
However, Linda Ikeji has come out to debunk said rumors claiming that no political party ever gave her that much money to put up campaigns for them.
Kemi O on the other hand not only continues to insist that Linda Ikeji was paid the whooping amount for her media support of the PDP cause, but also claims that the house Linda purportedly bought in banana island Lagos was a gift from a politician in exchange for not running a controversial story.
The entire debacle therefore brings many questions into consideration.
1) Is it right and justified to get paid for putting up adverts for a political party?
around the world, and especially in developed countries, the power of social media has been harnessed and galvanized to engage the general population in order to create awareness on a popular cause. politics has not been left out as even in the last presidential election in the united states, both candidates relied heavily on social media influencers particularly blogs, Facebook and twitter. it is right to assume that same owners of these blogs were paid for their troubles. hence, the reverse ought not to be the case in Nigeria. Linda has come out to say that she indeed accepted a standard fee from both the APC and PDP, in order not to appear biased.
2) Is there substantial evidence that Linda indeed collected 240 million from Dasuki?
so far Kemi O has not provided any, but in her classic style, which has been well known, ranging from her not too recent outbursts against the pastor of a well known Nigerian church; she has just posted a series of tweets, bringing to question the authenticity of her various claims.
The onus therefore is on her to provide substantial evidence to back up her claims, and therefore prove her critics wrong, but until then, the court of public opinion has been swayed by rumors.
3) can Linda Ikeji afford a mansion on her earnings as a blogger?
the answer to this question is not as easy as it comes. first let us take a look at some hard facts.
the british blog mashable recently raised 30 million dollars in funding to expand their portfolio.
in naira that would be about 7 billion.
the american blogger Michael Harrington makes a conservative earning of 1 million dollars monthly from his blog techcrunch. an equivalent of 199 million naira.
Now, Nigeria is ranked as one of the countries with the highest teledensity in the world, that is the number of people on their phones. making it a thriving global market for internet penetration.
it is safe to assume that a large percentage of the people online read and subscribe to her blog; a fact confirmed by the global ranking site Alexa which put her site at number 10,160 no mean feat for a Nigerian, making her the biggest thing in the entertainment blogosphere. it is safe to assume that she makes a nice profit from her efforts.
coupled with the fact that she has been on it for years and as well, she most likely has other portfolios, it is safe to assume that with prudent savings and mature spending, she is within reach of buying what she wants.

in addition, her chief accuser Kemi has not furnished any evidence of her claims, and hence the entire public should demand she does before she is taken seriously.
Until then, without seeming to support the controversial social media bill currently on the floor of the hallowed chambers, Nigerians should as a matter of fact refrain from slinging mud without evidence.

good morning

Hmmmmm

They should leave lindaikeji alone

I never believe any story from any blogger without hard evidence, and even when the evidence is there I'm still skeptical, so till Kemi provides concrete evidence to support her claims, there's nothing to talk about here!