Following the insertion of a paragraph from President Obama’s victory speech into the speech made by President Muhammadu Buhari on September 8 at the launch of the ‘Change Begins with Me’ campaign, the president has ordered that such overzealous staff should be disciplined.
Garba Shehu, presidential spokesman, disclosed this in a statement on Friday. He said that the similarities in the two paragraphs in question were too close to be a coincidence. The Paragraph 9 of the 16-paragraph address was similar to a paragraph in Barack Obama’s 2008 victory speech
”There was a mistake by an overzealous staff and we regret that this has happened,” Shehu said.
“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.”
