Nigerian poet Uche Nduka upset by fraudulent book bearing his name

The fraudulent 85-page compendium is said to be beautifully designed and packaged and titled ‘Uche Nduka 2012’. It is being sold by Amazon.com for $13. 89, which roughly translates as N2, 226. Fellow writer Obiwu Nwanyanwu, who bought the book and took delivery of it last week alerted fellow writers and book lovers in an […]

The fraudulent 85-page compendium is said to be beautifully designed and packaged and titled ‘Uche Nduka 2012’. It is being sold by Amazon.com for $13. 89, which roughly translates as N2, 226.

Fellow writer Obiwu Nwanyanwu, who bought the book and took delivery of it last week alerted fellow writers and book lovers in an email to Josana mailing group.

“The title is simply ‘Uche Nduka’ (2012), by some folk named Jesse Russell and Ronald Cohn and published by LENNEX Corp, Edinburgh, UK. I got it in the mail yesterday and it has nothing to do with either Uche Nduka or his writing. A disclaimer on the Copyright Page says: “All parts of this book have been extracted from Wikipedia.” Only one page, page 5, is a brief Wikipedia entry on Uche Nduka’s biodata and list of his books. The rest of the book are entries on Nigeria, definition of a poet, Umuahia, Germany, New York, and limitless references and rubbish! I have just been ripped off $13.89, plus $3.99 shipping cost for an absolute junk,” the email read in parts.

He urged book lovers to be on the lookout for other such fraudulent ventures as it might be another new trend of 419.

When contacted, the poet Uche Nduka, currently based in the US, said he is upset by the ‘fake book’.

“It is shameful, it is unacceptable, it is an obnoxious practice that demeans intellectuality. How other people can contrive to make financial gains from such a fake book venture beats my imagination! What else can I say except that I am very upset,” Mr. Nduka said.

Nduka is the award winner author of Heart’s Field (2005), Eel on Reef (2007) and Ijele (2012).