Speechwriting, Buhari and plagiarism

The most recent in world memory and arguably the most talked about of speech gaffs in recent times was that of Melania, wife to the erudite US Republican Presidential candidate, Donald Trump, whose speech mirrored a 2008 copy of Michelle Obama’s.

Fast forward two months later and half the world away in our own dear native land is our own dear President Muhammadu Buhari, entangled in a similar web of stolen speech.

Stealing is not corruption, we were told by Nigeria’s immediate past president. PMB and his aides had spent some of last year and all of this year trying to convince Nigerians and the world that stealing is indeed corruption; and I agree absolutely.

But of course, speeches, when stolen, must also be categorised accordingly, especially when it is by the man who heads a regime with anti-corruption crusade as the cornerstone of its rejuvenation policy.

So how did this come about?

Apparently the change didn’t begin with the President and the Presidency at the recent launch of the Change Begins With Me mass mobilization initiative, a campaign focusing on Integrity, discipline, honesty and moral uprightness. The President’s speech on that day had a section of it dubbed from Obama’s November 4, 2008 first victory speech. It is even

In some of my previous pieces, Buhari’sPR Disasters: Fuel, Power and Adesina; and How not to manage information,the Lai Mohammed example, I’d expressed concern on how these managers were harming the President’s persona and the reputation of his government with it. I mentioned how this President isn’t being well-managed, leaving Nigerians with a warped perception of him and his efforts. Alas, here we are again!

The change, really, should have begun with the President; also Alhaji Lai Mohammed, Garba Shehu, Femi Adesina, and whoever it was that leeched the speech that has brought the government and people of Nigeria such ridicule. And if that speech was written by Mamman Daura as reported, what are they all still doing in office? Daura writing speeches for the President smacks of the nepotism Buhari had complained about since his first adventure in 1983.

But really, it is what it is – plagiarism; and we need not always stop with the speechwriters, but equally take the blame to those who delivered such stolen speeches. The glory for a well-crafted speech would have gone to the President, not the writer, after all. It is immoral to plagiarize other people’s work, but even worse to use dishonesty to launch a campaign about honesty, said CNN’s Jim Clancy.

On a lighter note, former President Jonathan had said countries are serially rocked by terrorism, and maybe Boko Haram was just the turn of Nigeria. With intended pun, other world leaders have also been nabbed in the plagiarism game, including America’s Biden and Russia’s Putin; so maybe it’s just the turn of Nigeria’s Buhari.

You may watch speech comparison here: https://twitter.com/segalink/status/777064298203979776

Pic credit: Google

Written by ‘Dele Dele-Olukoju, a Marketing Communication strategist and publisher of the online Marketing Communication Digest. He writes from Lagos, Nigeria.