My team and I investigated how political parties in Nigeria are secretly paying social media influencers to spread disinformation about their opponents ahead of general elections in February.
This is what we found out!
"Ụtụtụ ọma" is not an Ìgbò greeting. We don't say that to each other when we wake up. What happened is that someone too smart for themself decided that "ịbọọla/ịsaala chi?" isn't woke enough and did a direct translation of "good morning". Tiresome stuff.
One thing that most people really don't know about me is that I've been publishing a magazine dedicated to science fiction, fantasy and other speculative genres since 2014.
It has been a very tough and financially draining journey since we started.
Yeah...
Local man is getting published this year by the folks at
@NarrativeLscape
.
Stories are basically African Futurism shorts and a novella.
What do you think of this cover?
'I am part of the Americanah project because I really want to be sure they get things like the Nigerian accent right' - Chimamanda Adichie
#aneveningwithchimamanda
The court awards Johnny Depp $15 million as it finds merit in his suit against Amber Heard.
But, the court also finds that Amber Heard was defamed. The court awards her 2 million dollars.
I interviewed Simon Ekpa in 2021.
It was a long interview that had him cleaving mostly to disinformation and hate speech, which I pushed back on and debunked as they were uttered.
Nothing about what he is saying and doing now shocks me.
My story about an old Biafran soldier and the son of a man he encountered during the war was published in
@JaladaAfrica
's Nostalgia.
One leg after the other. Local man is returning to writing and publishing.
We are pleased to announce a new addition to our list of fine writers. Chiagozie
@mazinwonwu
upcoming collection of short stories,
#TheRainmakerAndOtherStories
, promised to push Nigerian and Africa speculative fiction several steps forward. Welcome, Mazi
Went to buy one young adult book for my daughter at
@OuidaBooks
and left with five.
My wallet is crying but my daughter will scream with glee today. 😥 😆
Omenana magazine has a new anthology.
This anthology is part of the African speculative fiction bundle and includes some of the best stories we've published since the magazine berthed in 2014.
You can grab it here and help us spread the word
@gimbakakanda
I do not agree. The question was on youths and resilience, which I understand relates to climate change in this context. The event is a climate change event. Let's not be too quick to insinuate a slip up. Watch again.
Omenana magazine is still accepting submissions from writers from Africa and the African diaspora for our + iterations of Democracy themed edition.
Payment is $100 for stories and $50 for illustrations that will go with the shortlisted stories.
I get the feeling that Nnamdi Kanu sits back and laughs his butts off when he sees how serious his followers take even his most outlandish claims and pronouncements.
For the first time since 2014 when
@chineloonwualu
& I started
@OmenanaMag
in 2014, we completed our planned publications of the year.
2021 has 4 editions of OmenanaMag!
Big thanks to
@Dianaspeak
and
@mame_bougouma
. They made it happen.
Join us in 2022.
The BBC debate in Igbo language for some of the governorship candidates in Imo will start in about an hour. Please help us share this and invite your friends to watch this debate.
We cannot help but shout o!
Go here to follow what's happening
However, the journey wasn't started for those who don't care about speculative fiction. The journey began to fulfil the need for a platform for any person that's interested in the genre.
has been a stepping stone for many,
People are reporting late or none arrival of
@inecnigeria
officials to their polling units in different parts of Nigeria.
BBC Journalists In Abuja, Lagos and Akwa Ibom also report late arrival of electoral officials in some polling units.
#NigeriaElections2023
#NigeriaDecides
@SerenadeMe
@gimbakakanda
He absolutely did. He touched every area that he could have on the question. I think people are hung up on the mention of youths at the get go, when the question is more in line with what are you going to do about climate resilience especially as you have a very you g population.
I started the journey for me and it remains one of the most fulfilling things I've done in my life.
Omenana magazine doesn't get much recognition among the literary community in Nigeria. It's like it doesn't exist outside of the minds of lovers of speculative fiction.
I planned to spend about 5 minutes with
@sugabelly
but it stretched to over 1 hour 30 minutes. I listened much of that time. The lady knows what she is talking about as deeply as an expert knows his/her topic. I learnt, a lot. Now I am reading about Kanji & stuff & more stuff.
In my other life, I run a speculative fiction magazine dedicated to African writers of science fiction, fantasy, magical realism and stories about cats walking through walls 😀.
We just published our most ambitious edition.
Do check it out!
In Chibueze Ngeneagu's "Agu Uno" a robot masquerade breaks into a king’s palace to set free Agu Uno. This is freedom for all of earth’s creatures, and it is won with a good dose of environmental awareness and a special brand of ‘Odeshi’.
Erm... The jury found that Ms Heard was "defamed by statements made by Depp's lawyer, Adam Waldman, to the Daily Mail, calling her abuse claims a "hoax"".
The abducted passengers of the train heading to Kaduna from Abuja have been in captivity for more than 100 days now.
Mostly they are forgotten as people struggle to survive Nigeria.
The views of them their captors allow are harrowing.
40 something of them remain in captivity.
A controversial leader of a Nigerian secessionist movement has been arrested at his home in Finland, the BBC has confirmed.
Simon Ekpa allegedly used social media to incite violence and called for a boycott of Saturday's Nigerian poll.
@asemota
That point about the "unequivocal rejection of Biafra" by Anioma people is not true. Many of the major players in Biafra were from that region, even to the end of the war.
That part of Biafra was captured early and people needed to survive, hence the 'rejection'. It came later.
My short story "Rainmaker" published in
@brittlepaper
's "African Futurism Anthology" has been nominated for the Nommo awards.
Also, several authors publish in Omenana Magazine made the shortlist.
Nice feel to this.
Congratulations to everyone.
2021 NOMMO AWARDS LONGLIST:
Congratulations to all the nominated creators and publishers. Take the time to look at the featured works, read them and share them.
#nommos
#nommoawards
#nommolonglist
The Nommo Shortlist will be published at the end of May.
@Coal_City
Why do you guys report stuff like this without verifying if it is true. This is a very sensitive news at a very sensitive time. When you see stuff like this, pause, verify, they report.
Powerful point from Kenule Saro-Wiwa about nationhood Nigerian penchant for trying to solve complex problems with simplistic solutions.
Continue to rest in peace sir!
That said, we've been here since 2014. Happy to do this, for the culture. Yep, we fund this from our pocket and are happy for the success of the many writers that used this platform as a stepping stone.
We are still here.
Show us what you are doing for the culture.
My fellow Americans: Trump the bully is EXACTLY what the world thinks the USA is.
That ugliness you just saw is how the rest of the world sees the United States of America.
#Debate2020
@kolatubosun
@asemota
I think he is heating up the polity to ensure his base remains behind him. So even if he loses in the final stretch he will leave an impression in their mind that he was cheated. So when he comes again, they will follow him like before. "The return of the king" stuff.
Omenana Issue 1 was released in. December 2014.
That's 7 years ago.
Omenana Speculative Fiction Magazine was founded by
@mazinwonwu
and
@chineloonwualu
.
We are still here!
Got the opportunity to talk about speculative fiction in Africa and the place of
@OmenanaMag
in the scheme of things at
@GI_Nigeria
's "Dreaming New Worlds" event.
Was really surprised at how much influence this magazine has had on speculative literature in Africa.
Whew!
"It is hypocrisy to commemorate the death of 3 million in the past when you are scornful of efforts to prevent the death of 3 million in the future!"
This is what today is.
And Chuma Nwokolo's voice captures the essence and the lessons that need learning.
I am very thrilled about this one.
I stopped writing years ago and tried coming back to it several times with no success. Thank you
@WTalabi
for helping me rediscover the joy of creating new worlds. I hope everyone enjoys this Afrofuturism anthology from
@brittlepaper
.
We are still here and we will do our best to make the publishing experience as good as it can get for the writer trying to get their fantastical story out there.
This is for those of you spreading rumours that covid-19 palliatives and not teenage female students are currently in Queens School Enugu.
Onye nwere ntị nuta ihe.
Looting is a criminal offense too.
Also, the girls may need to be evacuated or better secured.
The same people who have been complaining about African literature for decades are still at it.
People dig deep into their time and pocket to create a space for others but instead of helping by even sharing a link to a story, what you get is blanket condemnation. Next!
@DrJoeAbah
My younger brother told me and our younger brother he would die the year he died. He died a few days to the end of the year. He wasn't sick. Last day of school. Took his box to the gate. Collapsed and didn't make it home.
In
@mazinwonwu
's
#AfricanfuturismAnthology
story, the Yadum family brings the tale of how they are capable of speaking to the rain gods & summoning rain to a new planet. But what happens to that power in this new environment? Read on to find out.
Just had a great time talking about speculative fiction with some really great people at the Relampeio festival.
Please check out the festival for some really great conversations about literature.
2020 is the year it is.
I got two stories published in two great anthologies.
Read my African Futurism story on Brittle Paper's anthology edited by
@WTalabi
Sometimes I don't know if Oris is trolling or engaging in his pasttime of dismissing any writing, writer or genre that doesn't personally appeal to him.
However, this take on speculative fiction misses the mark by much more than a thousand miles.
Should we even debate this?
This fascination many Nigerian writers have for speculative fiction: Is it truly what they want to write and read? Or is it semi-dictated from the West? Has the latter quietly informed the former?
Nigeria is kicking our ass but you are writing about malformed aliens in Onitsha.
That's how I am seeing people who contributed to making the society unsafe by being cheerleaders and defenders of the armed marauders that painted the zone red also celebrating the mansions and cars of those who braved the fear they created.
What's irony sef?
Na wa.
The summary of the debate on what is and what is not Igbo culture is the fact that judeo-christian values subsumed Igbo culture ages ago and many people erroneously now confuse these adopted norms as representative of what held in the days of our grandsires.
In a video from Rivers yesterday, a woman, crying as she watched the ballot papers from her polling unit burn, said: "I no go ever vote for my life again"
That's someone's faith in democracy dying before our eyes, killed by people who benefit from a rape of the process.
@DavidHundeyin
@tomiwaoyetu
But this looks very much like a tokunbo Merc that's probably like 7 years old. How is it worth $50m? Fine motor, but some of us wey no bi big man pikin dey drive merc too. 😳😳
@Dianaspeak
@kolatubosun
Not true for Ìgbò. Same tone marks exist and are the only way you can tell certain things with only tonal differences apart on paper. However, where Yoruba kept the tone marking in text, Ìgbò dropped it. The hope, now, is that context can tell you what is being referred to.
This is scary. What happens to platforms like Omenana that doesn't have the resources or clout of Clarkesworld? How do we even begin to look for stuff like this as AI content get harder to detect?
Just to be clear, this is NOT the number of submissions we receive by month. This is the number of people we've had to ban by month. Prior to late 2022, that was mostly plagiarism. Now it's machine-generated submissions.