President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered that disciplinary action be taken against officials responsible for a wrongful insertion in his speech at the launch of the “Change Begins with Me’’ campaign.
The President had been accused of lifting a paragraph in President Barack Obama’s 2008 Victory Speech in paragraph nine of the sixteen-paragraph address while inaugurating the Campaign.
According to a statement by Presidential spokesman, Mallam Garba Shehu, the President admitted that the two paragraphs in contention were too close to be passed as coincidence.
“There was a mistake by an overzealous staff and we regret that this has happened.
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,” the statement read in part.
He quoted President Buhari as urging Nigerians to look beyond the incident and focus on the message of change he preached at the event.
