Ms Anne Giwa-Amu, 60, who is the author of the book titled “Sade” accused Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie of Plagiarism and Chimamanda has now responded.

Giwa-Amu said Chimamanda’s “Half of a Yellow Sun” was in fact plagiarised with bits of her work; “Sade: United we stand.”

Anne Giwa-Amu accuses Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie of plagiarizing her work; Chimamanda responds

In a YouTube video, Anne accused Chimamanda of plagiarism then accused Chinua Achebe of playing a role in “giving” her work to Chimamanda who then rewrote it as Half of a Yellow Sun.

Giwa Amu explained how she published her work with the late Achebe. She had her work reviewed by Heinemann’s African Writers Series, of which Achebe was the Editorial Adviser. Her writing agreement with them lasted till 2019.

Also, Chimamanda Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun was vetted by Achebe.

Giwa-Amu claims Chimamanda stole bits of her work with the help of Achebe. She went on to share documents to validate her claims.

She said she first discovered Chimamanda had copied her work “Sade” in 2013 when she saw a poster in London advertising the film Half of a Yellow Sun.

Giwa-Amu adds in the YouTube video: “As this was the original story of Sade, it provoked me to purchase a copy of Half of a Yellow Sun. On receiving the book, I found that the front cover of Half of a Yellow Sun was similar to Sade.

“They both had a profile picture of a young African woman with the colours of the Biafran flag, excluding green.

Anne Giwa-Amu accuses Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie of plagiarizing her work; Chimamanda responds

“On reading Half of a Yellow Sun, I discovered that it was a rewrite of Shade.”

She continued: “In this video, I’ll put forward evidence to show that after Heimannn Publishers published Shade in 1999, Chinua Achebe contacted Chimamanda Adichie who started to work on the infringing novel with the assistance of three editors.”