SPEECH PLAGIARISM: Buhari’s aide sanctioned for “overzealous mistakes”

President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered sanctions against a Deputy Director in the Aso Rock Villa for plagiarising President Barack Obama’s 2008 speech in the ‘Change Begins With Me’ address Bu­hari made in Abuja last week.
The senior presidential staffer was not named but an Aso Rock press statement last night said the pres­idency was scandalised by the “overzealous mistake” made by the official and regretted the incident.

According to the statement issued by presidential spokes­man, Garba Shehu, “ President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered that prompt and ap­propriate disciplinary action be taken against those responsible for a wrongful insertion in his speech delivered on September 8, 2016 at the launch of the ‘Change Begins with Me’ campaign.
“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 Thursday, September 8, 2016 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. The 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.”