President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered prompt and appropriate disciplinary action against those responsible for a wrongful insertion in his speech delivered at the launch of the “Change Begins with Me” campaign.
This is contained in a statement issued on Friday in Abuja by the president’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu.
According to him, this serious oversight will be investigated thoroughly and appropriate sanction meted out.
Shehu stated that already, a Deputy Director in the presidency has accepted responsibility for the insertion of the contentious paragraph, adding that the presidency regretted the mistake committed by the overzealous staff.
“It was observed that the similarities between a paragraph in President Obama’s 2008 Victory Speech and what President Buhari read in paragraph nine of the sixteen-paragraph address while inaugurating the Campaign on September 8, are too close to be passed as coincidence.
There was a mistake by an overzealous staff and we regret that this has happened.
Already, a Deputy Director in the Presidency has accepted responsibility for the insertion of the contentious paragraph.
This serious oversight will be investigated thoroughly and appropriate sanction meted.
Presidency wishes to state in the clearest possible terms that it regrets this unfortunate incident and will ensure that this does not happen again.
President Buhari urges Nigerians to look beyond this incident and focus on the message of change which the country needs in order to restore our cherished value systems,” he said.
All whilst Boko haram is still waiting for their own disciplinary action.
As usual; somebody is made a scape goat. Plagiarism is a crime ; a corrupt crime at that. When you take a part of some one else’s work without referencing, it’s a huge crime. During my masters; turnitin is really key as plagiarism is a big issue and can make you flunk a module.
To me this is a corrupt act as the president delivered the speech as if it were his own thoughts. As a leader the onus is on you to carry out your due diligence on even the most trivial government issue. This just exposed the fact that our president does not study nor research what ever speech he is presented to. Garbage in garbage out.
To be honest, the EFCC should go after the president as this act amounts to stealing and corruption.
Bubu never fails to disappoint; sai chanjii sai APC…
…and the deputy director is without a name? This Buhari led government is more unserious and deceptive as the day gets by. hisses
True Nigerian fashion, blame someone else.
But we should look beyond this and see that the reason for this is because of our educational system. No creative writing skills in many universities, no ability or encouragement to speak/act/think outside the box. All must conform. And this my friend is what we get, PLAGIARISM. Its a true malady affecting the population. Just go to universities.
So Nigerians should not shout and blame the president, he is simply a reflection of what is going on in Nigeria.
There are millions of Nigerians who still know what they are doing educationally. The sad truth is that nepotism, favoritism., tribalism would allow those people to be hired as speech writers and much more.
This is the main reason Nigeria is in a mess, from Independence to now!
No vision, no real mission, no long term planning, no creativity! SAD. MUCH.
Justice should be seen to be done. Sack the deputy director and give someone more competent the job!
If anyone is still doubting that this is the worst govt ever..Govt that lies, that is corrupt..smh
Whoever is writing for Obama and His wife should keep up the good work. First it was Mrs Trump and now our very own President.
That shows that these bigots don’t read. Even if someone writes for you, Its ideal that you go through it over and over again. Each time i see American Presidents address their nation, you can’t but applaud their achievements and see why they are were they are.
Our own governors will come out and be reading from paper throughout. What a shame
U whr given a speech to read and u didn’t even go thru bf coming out to address it. Let say u wr given a speech like dis “” the Nigerian president is a moron””… Will u cum out and read it. So DAT means all d speech u’ve bn reading out to us are all lies and including d promises u are not sure of someone just hand dem to u. A very delicate script DAT has to do wit CHANGE u read it without cross checking to know if thr is a mistake. Lie lie govt shame shame……. Shameeee
Thanks so much Nnenne! Im a speechwriter as well as a lawyer. Ive been writing speeches since I was 18 and nobody is so much as peeping my way…. Well, I keep a positive outlook and keep going. Speechwriting is my passion. I won’t stop because I have been rejected.
Copycat Nigerians. Everything copy copy.
I can’t stop laughing(LOL) . This is delicate and dicey as well. This case is similar to the case of the movie named three idiots where there was infringement in the speech taken by the school most intelligent crammer who didn’t bother to check the content of his speech before going out to fool his lecturer AKA the PROF Chai naija na big comedy.