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Roundup: Speechwriter of Nigerian president faces charges over plagiarism scandal

Xinhua, September 19, 2016 Adjust font size:

Nigerian authorities will this week begin to slam thorough charges against a speechwriter of President Muhammadu Buhari who was found guilty of plagiarizing U.S. President Barack Obama in a November 2008 speech, an official source said on Monday.

The unnamed speechwriter infuriated Nigerian authorities for lifting a paragraph from Obama's acceptance speech after he was first elected president of the United States, and inserting the material unedited into a speech delivered by Buhari on Sept. 8.

The wrongful insertion was discovered last weekend by the presidency and a deputy director in the Nigerian civil service has admitted responsibility for the wrongdoing.

In an official statement, the president's office apologized for the misdeed, saying it regretted the unfortunate incident and will ensure there's no room for such occurrence in future.

"This serious oversight will be investigated thoroughly and appropriate sanction meted," the presidency statement said.

Official sources said the "overzealous aide", being a civil servant, will likely be given official warning and redeployed to another unit outside the president's office.

His case will be handled the most official way, in respect to the Civil Service law in Nigeria, said a source.

The plagiarism scandal has continued to cause furor among Nigerians, with many describing the incident as a "national embarrassment."

Many legal experts have argued that, though there is no universally accepted punishment for an act of plagiarism, as a moral offense, this development must be followed to a logical conclusion before the plagiarist is punished, depending on his or her aim for the mischief.

One of the steps adopted by the presidency to prevent a recurrence of plagiarism in presidential speeches is to install a plagiarism detection software in the computers of speechwriters, Daily Trust, a local newspaper, reported on Monday, citing official sources.

According to the newspaper, the software will, henceforth, thoroughly check speeches before they are delivered by the Nigerian president. Endit