Mamman Daura, a nephew of President Muhammadu Buhari was responsible for speech delivered by the president in which the words of US President Barack Obama were plagiarized, Presidential sources revealed.
According to a report by News24, Mamman was said to have hijacked the task of providing speeches for the president, adding that he often threw away draft speeches that he did not commission.
Asked whether the president’s nephew personally wrote the controversial speech that stole Mr. Obama’s words without attribution, our sources said that Mr. Daura certainly produced the speech. “It is possible he wrote it himself, or he went and asked somebody else to go and write it and bring,” said one source. The other stated, “I can tell you that nobody writes speech anymore for President Buhari but Mamman Daura.”
Daura was behind President Buhari’s inauguration speech, which lifted a famous quote from the late French leader Charles de Gaulle according to the sources.
They said the president’s nephew was also solely responsible for writing or commissioning Buhari’s now infamous speech entreating Nigerians to accept the idea of “Change begins with me.”
President Muhammadu Buhari has however, apologized for plagiarising President Barack Obama’s 2008 victory speech and says he will punish those responsible.
The governments of United States of America and Nigeria have exchanged views on the ongoing efforts to engage in dialogue with Niger Delta militants and sought an immediate and peaceful resolution to the conflict.
This effort was part of the highlights of a meeting between the American National Security Adviser, Susan E. Rice and Nigeria’s National Security Adviser, Babagana Monguno at the House White recently.
The two National Security Advisers met at the White House to discuss opportunities to expand cooperation between the United States and Nigeria.
Ambassador Rice welcomed the progress that Nigeria and its regional partners have made in the fight against Boko Haram, now known as ISIL’s West Africa Province.
She encouraged Nigeria to maintain focus on defeating the group militarily while establishing good governance and providing basic services in liberated areas.
They also discussed the urgent need for international collaboration to support the Government of Nigeria’s response to the humanitarian emergency in northeast Nigeria.
The Nigerian military has rescued 43 abducted persons and recovered 500 cows from fleeing Boko Haram terrorists in Mafa Local Government Area of Bornu state, North-east Nigeria.
Army spokesperson Colonel Sani Kukasheka Usman made this known in a statement, explaining that, the military operation was carried out on Sunday morning after eight suspected Boko Haram terrorists abducted some persons rearing cattle and livestock at gunpoint at Dalakalari general area of the Local Government Area.
According to Usman, Some well meaning people informed the military who swung into action and pursued the terrorists whom after sensing danger, ran away and abandoned the livestock just before Panamri village.
He said, “The troops were able to rescue 43 persons and 500 cows taken by the terrorists. The victims and the recovered cows have been handed over to the local authorities.”
Now, let’s get to it. Right off the gate, I want to advise you of a few things you are not. First, you are not an intellectual. Stop acting like you are one; you are not. Second, you are not a great communicator, at least not in the medium of English language. Stop pretending like you are a great communicator. To be honest, many people don’t understand a word of English that comes out of your mouth. Third, you are not a charmer. How can you be a charmer when you can’t communicate? So, quit trying.
Now, let me advise you of the many things you are (not a few, as was the case of the things you are not). First, you are a very intelligent man (not to be confused with being an intellectual). You see, intelligence comes naturally; intellectualism comes with learning. It is your intelligence that has kept you afloat where many of your peers have sunk. Second, you are tenacious, almost stubborn. It is this quality that has brought you back from what many had thought was a political sunset. Third, you are (can be) funny. You have a brutal sense of humor (except that your communicative deficiency often gets in the way and neutralizes the zing of your zingers). Fourth, you command an imposing presence, a function of your uncommon height. Your almost 7-footer height sets you shoulder higher than most of your peers. With that height, you would have been a natural charmer, but, alas, you are not a great communicator! Fifth, you have an unquestionable love for your country. You are a patriot, determined to navigate your country back to glory. Sixth, and above all else, you are a man of integrity.
So, you see, Mr. President, you have more positives than negatives. The things you are outnumber, and might even outweigh, the things you are not. The issue now is how might the things you are not be competing with, and possibly undermining, the things you are? How might your not being an intellectual be undermining your intelligence? Is it possible that people are looking for intellectualism where intelligence should be just enough? Is it possible that your communicative deficiency might be blocking and imperiling your quality of humor? With a towering 7-footer height, why can’t you be a charmer? Is it possible that your communication challenge might be having a negative interaction with your physical attractiveness? All these are possibilities, and they are real possibilities. Question now is: what are you doing about them? What are you going to do about them? How many social psychologists do you have working with you? What are the qualifications of your public relations team? Have they pointed these out to you? Do they have the courage to tell you when you embarrass yourself and the nation? Or do they tell you only what you want to hear?
Has anybody on your team pointed out the severity of plagiarism as both a moral and a social offense? Assuming nobody has, let me break it down to you, Mr. President: plagiarism is intellectual theft – Period! When you repeat President Obama’s speech almost word-for-word, without attribution to him, you steal from President Obama. Did you know that plagiarism is considered theft? Of course, you do. Did you intentionally go out of your way to steal President Obama’s speech? Not at all. But you stole President Obama’s speech. You stole President Obama’s speech because you read a speech written for you by some lousy moron, who is just one out of the many morons you have surrounded yourself with. Yes, I call your speechwriter a moron. How can he or she not be a moron who copies President Obama’s speech for you to read barely one month after the whole world was shocked by a similar atrocity when Donald Trump’s wife, Melania, at the Republican National Convention, plagiarized Michelle Obama’s speech?
Now, you must sack that speechwriter, if you have not done that already. But you must not end there. There are too many incompetents and borderline deplorables in your government. I get it; your hands were forced to reward your campaign financiers and party loyalists with governmental appointments. For a nation where party trumps patriotism, such things happen. They have always happened. The problem this time is that you are faced with a dire economic situation that does not leave you enough margin for error. A collapsing and recessing economy is not one that offers the luxury of political settlements, especially when it is too obvious that such settlees are crassly incompetent.
Mr. President, it is now part of your record that you are a plagiarizer. It is a development that you must take very seriously. It must rankle the hell out of you, especially given that somebody created that mess for you. I want you to go crazy over this, so crazy that you must now use this opportunity to clean your house with deliberate thoroughness. If this embarrassment does not move you to meaningful action, then nothing will. And it will be the end of hope for Nigeria under you. Just in case you need to be reminded, Mr. President, the change you promised to deliver is becoming too incremental for comfort. Yes, I get it; change does not happen overnight. But signs of change do. Plagiarizing the speech of an outgoing American president in the second year of yours is not by any means a sign of change.
How many of your ministers can you vouch for their competency? I say almost none; otherwise, how come things are getting progressively worse in every department of government by every indicator? Jobs are not getting created; poverty rate is rising; the national currency is plummeting geometrically; businesses are stymied; unemployment rate is unprecedentedly high; Fulani herdsmen have turned into an armed gang of marauders and murderers; roads continue to be death traps; electricity continues to shine more darkness than light. Yes, you have been in office for only one year, but there are no signs that things are about to, or will, change. And it is not because you do not have good and great intentions for change. It is because you have surrounded yourself with 20th century men for 21st century challenges. You have appointed men and women who were socialized on the Earth being round. You have as ministers and advisers men and women who should be ministered to and advised. Here is a trick, Mr. President: you should not have as advisers people whom you are smarter than they are. Unfortunately, you are smarter than many of the men and women you have surrounded yourself with.
It is time to clean house, Mr. President!
When you clean house, things change. Get rid of all the men and women whose only qualification for service in your government is their contribution to your presidential campaign. They are not doing you any good; certainly, they are doing the nation and its people a great disservice. Get rid of them – all of them! Look for young Nigerians with digital brains and 21st century minds. They are all over the world, making great and phenomenal contributions in their countries of sojourn. Go and bring them to help you move Nigeria forward. The dinosaurs you have surrounded yourself with will continue to run that great nation aground.
When you clean house, you will bring in someone who understands your shortcomings and knows how to manage them. Look, I am dead-serious about your communicative deficiency. Let me be blunt for emphasis: it sucks! But it does not create a hopeless conundrum for either you or the nation. Not at all. All that is needed is for someone to manage you well. Managed properly, you should only speak when, and only when, it is unavoidably necessary. A major part of the derision and disrespect, which many Nigerians have for you, derives from your barely understandable spoken English language skill. But you are not required to be Brian Williams. You are the president of Nigeria, not an anchor on BBC.
The presidency of Nigeria requires that you roll up your sleeves and work from behind the glares of the camera, getting things done. It is not showbiz. This does not mean that you can no longer communicate with your countrymen and women. No, it means that you now engage in strategic communication, utilizing modern tools that save you from the camera, yet get your message out. Some presidents acquire the toga of intellectualism when they write opinion editorials (op-eds) in newspapers and magazines. You see, the writing does not have to be yours – presidents should be too busy to write. That’s why you have speech writers. They should know where your opinion on an issue lies; script together an opinion piece for your vetting and eventual publication. When you recede from public media space; publish occasional op-eds; yet, get the work of the nation on the upswing, you create for yourself an image of mystery. Every leader needs a dose of mystery about them. In your own case, it could come by way of public and media scarcity. Let Nigerians look for and long to hear from you at the same time the wheel of the nation is making a progressive turn.
Do you have a tweeter account, Mr. President? No? Get one. Have a team of PR practitioners manage your tweeter account on your behalf. If President Obama tweets something you like, your tweeter account managers can retweet Obama’s message on your behalf, rather than plagiarizing the same message. This is the 21st century, Mr. President. It is a digital world. Many of the things you grew up with have become too analog already. You must now retool and upgrade. And you don’t have to do it yourself; you do it with the right team of 21st century compatible ministers and advisers.
Mr. President, I wish you well. I will continue to pray for your success. Nigeria is a difficult project. I get that. What I don’t get is surrounding yourself with morons and incompetents who continue to run the country to the ground and subject you to national and international ridicule. You must get rid of them immediately! This plagiarism scandal is a blessing disguised as a blemish. It offers you the opportunity to be angry at everyone. It gives you an exit ramp on a party highway that seemed like a bridge to nowhere and a dead-end at the same time. You must grab that opportunity and re-staff your government with the right caliber of minds in a 21st century world. When you do that, I will come back to see where the quality of decisiveness falls on your leadership profile ledger. Is it something you have or don’t have? It remains to be seen.
Substantial cuts in the salaries of both President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice-President Professor Yemi Osinbajo earlier announced when the duo came to office last year may be nothing to write home about as both of them including Cabinet Ministers and other political appointees pocketed the sum of N2.295 billion as official salaries and allowances in the last one year, Economic Confidential can report.
The development is coming at a time the Federal Government kick-started a national orientation campaign premised on the “Change Begins with me.”
In the report obtained by the Economic intelligence magazine which shows the official remunerations of the President, Vice-President, cabinet ministers, Secretary to the Government of the Federation and the Head of Service of the Federation amongst other Chief executives, are in tandem with the approval of the Revenue Mobilization, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC).
The packages include: annual salaries, accommodation, vehicle maintenance/fuel, Personal Assistant, House maintenance, domestic staff, entertainment and utilities allowances. Other allowances are: Constituency allowance, Hardship allowance, newspapers and monitoring allowances.
A critical examination of the report indicates that Mr. President has an annual basic salary of N3.51m, Vice- President N3.03m, while Ministers, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Head of Service and Chairmen of Boards of statutory agencies have N2.02m respectively.
As for members of constitutional bodies, Special advisers, Speech writers, Directors General, Accountant General of the Federation, Permanent Secretaries, CEOs of agencies and INEC Resident Electoral Commissioners each have an annual basic salary of N1.9m.
The report shows that only the President and the Vice-President in the Executive arm of government enjoy the hardship allowances of 50 percent each of their annual basic salaries; 250 percent as Constituency Allowances and enjoy other perks to be provided (TBP) by government.
These benefits to be provided to the two leaders include, but not limited to the following: Accommodation, Furniture, Domestic Staff, Personal Assistants, Utilities Newspapers, Vehicles, Entertainment, Maintenance and Estacode.
Meanwhile other appointees including Ministers, Advisers, Permanent Secretaries and INEX Resident Commissioners are entitled to 200 percent of their annual basic salary for Accommodation; 300 percent for Furniture; 75 percent for Vehicle maintenance and fuel; 25 percent for Personal Assistant; 75 percent for domestic staff; 45 percent for entertainment; 30 percent for utilities; 15 percent for newspapers, and 20 percent for monitoring.
While President and Vice President duty tours and estacode will be provided by government, other officers have fixed rates. The estacode allowance per day for minister, SGF, Head of Service and Chairmen of Board is $1000 per night on foreign trip, Member of constitutional bodies $900 per night, Special Adviser and Speech Writer $800 per night while Permanent Secretary, Director General and INEC Electoral Commissioner take $600 per night each on foreign trips.
Further checks by Economic Confidential reveals that an average Nigerian worker with a minimum wage of N18,000 a month will have to work for more than four years before earning the utility allowance for Ministers of the federal Republic. Unless the remuneration package is reviewed downward for the political appointees and upward for the Civil servants the executives will continue to enjoy the current salaries and allowances.
The Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) determines and fixes the remuneration packages of public and political office holders, while the National Salaries, Wages and Income Commission fixes the salaries and allowances of civil servants in Nigeria.
Kaduna (Nigeria) – The National Examination Council (NECO) has released the 2016 June/July Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE) results for Secondary School Leavers in Nigeria.
A total of 905,011 candidates (88.51%) got a minimum of five credits, pass and above in English Language and Mathematics to scale the pass line.
English Language had 857,699 (84.54%) Credit and above while a little less than 812,846 (80.16%) had Credit and above in Mathematics unlike the November/December in which 60.31% pass rate was recorded in Mathematics.
This caps the performance for the two subjects in the examination in which all candidates are expected to record a pass mark to be considered to have scaled through.
Ekiti State led all the 36 States and FCT in performance in the just released result. Ekiti was followed by Edo State, Abia and Kogi States respectively in overall student’s performance.
A total of 1, 022, 474 candidates from Nigeria and other countries sat for the 2016 June/July NECO examination.
NECO detected malpractices in 194 centers, 14 schools were also deregistered for gross misconduct.
According to NECO Registrar, Charles Uwakwe, the June/July 2016 examination recorded an improved performance over previous examination, stressing that, his predecessors’ efforts have now started yielding good outcome, and promised to improve the current standards.
He added that, “I want to solicit for support from all our stakeholders. NECO should be seen as a Nigerian baby that requires the care and support of all to enable her attain that first class international status.
“We are working hard to ensure NECO makes her mark in the global assessment industry,” Uwakwe noted.
All candidates have been advised to check results on NECO Official Examination Result website portal on – http://www.mynecoexams.com/results/
President Muhammadu Buhari’s ‘Change Begins with Me’ campaign suffered a setback Friday following a newspaper report that the president allegedly plagiarised President Barack Obama in the speech he delivered while launching the project.
The government says the campaign will help curb “widespread act of immorality” by Nigerians.
The report, which detailed how Mr. Buhari allegedly lifted quotes from a 2008 speech by Mr. Obama, came on the heels of another damaging allegation that the ‘Change Begins With Me’ campaign contained elements belonging to another anti-corruption effort, ‘Not in My Country’.
Mr. Buhari on August 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.
He also used the occasion to sue for national consensus amongst Nigerians on issues ranging from spirit of service to patriotism.
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,” Mr. Buhari said.
But facts have emerged indicating Mr. Buhari did not author those quotes.
Newspaper, was the first to spot possible instances of plagiarism between Mr. Buhari’s speech and a speech delivered by Mr. Obama when he was first elected in 2008.
In a speech delivered after his victory on November 4, 2008, Mr. Obama said to a crowd of enthusiastic supporters:
“Let’s resist the temptation to fall back on the same partisanship and pettiness and immaturity that has poisoned our politics for so long.
“So let us summon a new spirit of patriotism, of responsibility, where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only ourselves but each other. “Let us remember that, if this financial crisis taught us anything, it’s that we cannot have a thriving Wall Street while Main Street suffers.”
After highlighting the seeming plagiarism, Mr. Akinremi said the act was “unethical” and lampooned Mr. Buhari for allegedly indulging in it.
“It is immoral to plagiarize other people’s work, but even worse to use dishonesty to launch a campaign about honesty.
“When you use another person’s work without acknowledgement, you have plagiarized. You simply pretend as if it is your own. It is unethical. It makes a mess of the campaign from the start. That is what Buhari has done, nobody will believe in the ‘change begins with me’ campaign, because it was built on lies,” Mr. Akinremi said.
When contacted Friday morning, presidential spokesperson, Garba Shehu, said he was just becoming aware of the allegation and that the presidency would investigate.
Mr. Akinremi’s column was published a week after associates of Akin Fadeyi, creator of ‘Not In My Country’ accused the Buhari administration of stealing his concept to launch ‘Change Begins with Me.’
The associates said Mr. Fadeyi, a creative artist and former head of communications at Airtel Nigeria, met with the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, in December 2015 to intimate him of ‘Not In My Country,’ an episodic narrative that deploys humour to underscore societal ills and appeal to Nigerians to shun sharp practices.
They said Mr. Mohammed declined interest in the concept, only to turn around to adapt it for ‘Change Begins with Me’ campaign.
But Mr. Mohammed denied the allegations, saying he started ‘Change Begins with Me’ before he was appointed minister.
“We started working on ‘Change Begins with Me’ before the honourable minister was nominated and we’ve been working with the agency that produced the campaign,” Mr. Mohammed’s associate said.
The ‘Change Begins with Me’ campaign had earned Mr. Buhari widespread criticism, with many Nigerians accusing him of shifting blames to them and wondering why they gave him their mandate if he would ultimately saddle them with the duty of effecting the change he promised.
But the government said the campaign became necessary to rally all Nigerians in the effort to cleanse the country of corruption and other malaise plaguing it.
Peshawar – At least 16 people have been killed and 35 others wounded after a suicide bomber blew himself during a Friday prayers at a mosque in a northwestern Pakistani tribal area, officials said.
The bombing took place in Butmaina village, Mohmand tribal district bordering Afghanistan where the army has been fighting against Taliban militants.
According to a senior tribal administration official “The Friday prayer was in progress at the mosque when a suicide bomber blew himself up in the main room killing at least 16 worshippers and wounding 35 others.
He added that, curfew had since been imposed in the area.
Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, in a press statement condemned the act and said, “The cowardly attacks by terrorists cannot shatter the government’s resolve to eliminate terrorism from the country.”
News24 reports that, there was no immediate claim of responsibility, but the Pakistani Taliban routinely attack soft targets such as courts, schools and mosques.
On September 2, at least 14 people were killed and more than 50 wounded after a suicide bomber attacked a court in the Pakistani city of Mardan in an assault targeting Pakistan’s legal community that was claimed by the Jamaat-ul-Ahrar Taliban faction.
The group has also said it was behind an attack on lawyers in southwest Quetta, which killed 73 people on August 8, as well as the Lahore Easter bombing that killed 75 in Pakistan’s deadliest attack this year.
Pakistan’s deadliest ever attack occurred in Peshawar in December 2014, when Taliban militants stormed a school killing more than 150 people, mostly children.
The army launched an operation in June 2014 in a bid to wipe out militant bases in the northwestern tribal areas and so bring an end to the bloody insurgency that has cost thousands of civilian lives since 2004.
Security in the country has since improved. Scattered attacks still take place, but they are fewer and of a lesser intensity than in previous years.
According to data from the South Asia Terrorism Portal, 457 civilians and 182 security forces were killed in Pakistan from January 1 to September 11, putting 2016 on course for fewer casualties than 2015.
Last year, the country recorded its lowest number of killings since 2007, when the Pakistani Taliban was formed.
