The Presidency has responded to reports that
President Buhari plagiarized president Barack
Obama's speech at the launch of "Change
Begins With Me" reorientation campaign in
Abuja last week
A part of President Buhari's speech (right)
contained largely the same arrangement of
words and emotional outburst that President
Obama used in his 2008 victory speech (left)
after he was elected the first American black
president.
Reacting to the report, Senior
Special Adviser to President Buhari on Media
and Publicity, Shehu Garba, says the official
responsible for the speech will be sanctioned
Below is the statement issued by Shehu
Garba Shehu, SSAP Media and Publicity to
the President:
The Presidency wishes to respond to a story
on alleged plagiarism in a Presidential
Speech that has been trending for most of
today.
The Presidency observed that the similarities
between a paragraph in President Obama’s
2008 Victory Speech and what the President
read in paragraph nine of the sixteen-
paragraph while inaugurating the “Change
begins with me” are too close to be passed
as coincidence. There was a mistake by an
overzealous administration staff and we
regret that this has happened.
A Deputy Director in the Presidency has
accepted responsibility for the insertion of
the contentious paragraphs even when a
query to him was being typed.
This serious oversight will be investigated
thoroughly and appropriate punishment
meted.
The Presidency, once again regrets this
unfortunate incident. Measures have been
put in place to ensure that this does not
happen again.
President Muhammadu Buhari admonished
Nigerians to move past incident and focus on
the message of change which the country
needs in order to restore our cherished value
systems.
Source: Quotes culled from Thisday
0 comments: