Reports have emerged that President Muhammadu
Buhari may have plagiarised his ‘Change begins
with me’ campaign speech which was delivered last
week.
Buhari on September 8 launched the
‘reorientation’ campaign in Abuja as part of his
government’s strategy to make Nigerians eschew
“dishonesty, indolence, unbridled corruption and
widespread impunity” and embrace daily
introspection over their “immoral” conducts.
Adeola Akinremi, a columnist with ThisDay, was
however first to make the allegation, saying
Buhari’s speech bore marked resemblance with
the one delivered by Barack Obama in his
November 2008 presidential election victory
speech at a rally in Grant Park in Chicago, Illinois.
“President Muhammadu Buhari made a terrible
mistake last Thursday. He plagiarized President
Barack Obama’s speech to launch ‘change begins
with me,’” he wrote in his column.
“So you didn’t notice that our president lifted
from Obama’s 2008 victory speech and passed it
off as if the words were his own?
“The argument will rage, but the moral problem of
plagiarism on a day Mr. President launched a
campaign to demand honesty and integrity from
the people is what we should concern ourselves
with.
“I’m not a wailing wailer and I don’t like the
downfall of any man but I also don’t like to be
deceived. The very last thing you should do when
you’re launching a campaign like this is to be
dishonest with the people.
“As Buhari talked down on Nigerians during the
launch of the campaign spearheaded by no other
person, other than the Minister of Information,
Alhaji Lai Muhammed, known for his trash-talk,
particularly for the opposition, I started following
the speech line-by-line.
“I was alarmed to make the discovery. It was a
scandal that escaped the attention of our
newspapers. It is one of two things: either people
don’t pay particular attention to Buhari’s words
or we are a nation of anything goes.”
The paragraph alleged to have been lifted by
Buhari read: “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.”
Reports have emerged that President Muhammadu
Buhari may have plagiarised his ‘Change begins
with me’ campaign speech which was delivered last
week.
Buhari on September 8 launched the
‘reorientation’ campaign in Abuja as part of his
government’s strategy to make Nigerians eschew
“dishonesty, indolence, unbridled corruption and
widespread impunity” and embrace daily
introspection over their “immoral” conducts.
Adeola Akinremi, a columnist with ThisDay, was
however first to make the allegation, saying
Buhari’s speech bore marked resemblance with
the one delivered by Barack Obama in his
November 2008 presidential election victory
speech at a rally in Grant Park in Chicago, Illinois.
“President Muhammadu Buhari made a terrible
mistake last Thursday. He plagiarized President
Barack Obama’s speech to launch ‘change begins
with me,’” he wrote in his column.
“So you didn’t notice that our president lifted
from Obama’s 2008 victory speech and passed it
off as if the words were his own?
“The argument will rage, but the moral problem of
plagiarism on a day Mr. President launched a
campaign to demand honesty and integrity from
the people is what we should concern ourselves
with.
“I’m not a wailing wailer and I don’t like the
downfall of any man but I also don’t like to be
deceived. The very last thing you should do when
you’re launching a campaign like this is to be
dishonest with the people.
“As Buhari talked down on Nigerians during the
launch of the campaign spearheaded by no other
person, other than the Minister of Information,
Alhaji Lai Muhammed, known for his trash-talk,
particularly for the opposition, I started following
the speech line-by-line.
“I was alarmed to make the discovery. It was a
scandal that escaped the attention of our
newspapers. It is one of two things: either people
don’t pay particular attention to Buhari’s words
or we are a nation of anything goes.”
The paragraph alleged to have been lifted by
Buhari read: “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.”
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