President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday directed that appropriate disciplinary action be taken against those responsible for a plagiarized insertion in his speech delivered on September 8, 2016 at the launch of the “Change Begins With Me” campaign in Abuja, a statement by presidential spokesperson Garba Shehu has disclosed.
Following widespread public embarrassment generated by the plagiarism scandal, the presidency on Friday admitted to the plagiarism charge and blamed an unnamed “deputy director” for the intellectual property theft.
In a Facebook post, Garba Shehu wrote: “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,” he added.
“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,” the statement said.
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