Plagiarism: Presidency to punish official who inserted Obama's quote in President Buhari's speech

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.