Buhari orders disciplinary action against officials for plagiarizing Obama's speech

Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari has ordered disciplinary action be taken against those who plagiarized and inserted U.S. President Barrack Obama’s 2008 speech into his during a national reorientation campaign launch in Abuja.

The presidency acknowledged the similarities between the two speeches on Friday evening after a local newspaper spotted it and accused Buhari of plagiarism.

PRESS RELEASE — Presidency to sanction official over 'Change Begins With Me' Speech. pic.twitter.com/xNS4FYnAjL

— Bashir Ahmad (@BashirAhmaad) September 16, 2016

“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,” Buhari’s spokesperson, Garba Shehu said in a statement.

He expressed the presidency’s regret for the “mistake by an overzealous staff” while adding that: “Already, a Deputy Director in the Presidency has accepted responsibility for the insertion of the contentious paragraph.”

The statement said the “serious oversight” will be investigated and urged Nigerians to look beyond the incident and focus on the message of change.

President Buhari has been heavily criticized for the gaffe which is described as “unethical” by the local media.

The Speech

Obama 2008

Let’s resist the temptation to fall back on the same partisanship and pettiness and immaturity that has poisoned our politics for so long. So let us summon a new spirit of patriotism, of responsibility, where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only ourselves but each other. Let us remember that, if this financial crisis taught us anything, it’s that we cannot have a thriving Wall Street while Main Street suffers.

Buhari 2016

We must resist the temptation to fall back on the same partisanship, pettiness and immaturity that have poisoned our country for so long. Let us summon a new spirit of responsibility, spirit of service, of patriotism and sacrifice, Let us all resolve to pitch in and work hard and look after, not only ourselves but one another. What the current problem has taught us is that we cannot have a thriving army of rent seekers and vested interests, while the majority suffers.