Nigeria Content Online

The political
atmosphere is getting heated up as the 2011 elections draw close; the
intrigue, drama and mudsling synonymous with politicking are beginning
to surface.

As thousands of
party faithful, praise singers and hangers-on flooded the Eagle Square
venue formal declaration of Goodluck Jonathan’s intention to run in the
January presidential election, little did they know that the speech
they all cheered and applauded was to become an object of ridicule and
controversy.

Barely 72 hours
after Mr. Jonathan delivered his speech to his vociferous supporters at
the Eagle Square, reports have it that a paragraph of that speech that
nearly drove his supporters into a frenzy was actually lifted from
former Vice-presidents Atiku Abubakar’s presidential declaratory speech
written in 2006.

Mr. Jonathan had told his supporters last Saturday that:

“Our country is at
the threshold of a new era; an era that beckons for a new kind of
leadership; a leadership that is uncontaminated by the prejudices of
the past; a leadership that is committed to change; a leadership that
reinvents government, to solve the everyday problems that confront the
average Nigerian.”

Some believe that
the similarity of the above statement to paragraph nine of Mr. Atiku’s
2006 speech more than just coincidental. Mr. Atiku had said in 2006
that:

“Today, as we stand
on the threshold of a new era Nigeria requires a new kind of
leadership, a leadership committed to this change process. We need a
leadership that is not hampered or constrained by the regressive
politics of the past or the unproductive ideologies of the present.
Nigeria deserves a proven, committed and experienced leader who knows
how to reinvent government to help solve the real problems our people
today.”

Shehu Garba,
spokesperson for the Atiku Campaign Organisation makes light of the
claim. According to him the Atiku Campaign Organisation has been too
“preoccupied with the coming party primaries so we have not paid
attention to that speech”. He however said if “the charge is true, then
it is unfortunate”.

“Change you can Xerox”

The accusation of
plagiarism between political opponents is obviously not a new thing. In
2008, during the Democratic Party presidential primary, United States
secretary of state Hillary Clinton, (then a democrat presidential
aspirant) had accused Barak Obama of plagiarism. According to Mrs.
Clinton, Mr. Obama had lifted from Deval Patrick, the governor of
Massachusetts.

Mr. Obama had dismissed the accusation as diversionary.

“The notion I had
plagiarized from someone who is one of my national co-chairs who gave
me the line and suggested I use it I think is silly. This is where we
get into silly season in politics and people start getting discouraged
about it.”

Mrs. Clinton, however, refused to handle the issue with same levity as Mr. Obama.

“If your candidacy is going to be about words, they should be your
own words,” said Clinton. “Lifting whole passages is not change you can
believe in, it’s change you can Xerox.”