The former presidential candidate of Allied Congress Party of Nigeria, ACPN, Oby Ezekwesili, has accused President Muhammadu Buhari of plagiarizing a part of her manifesto.

“Did @MBuhari not recently copy my manifesto by saying he will Lift millions of Nigerians out of Poverty?” Ezekwesili said on Twitter

“Did he not say he wants to Lift 100 million Nigerians out of Poverty?” she added.

Buhari in his Democracy Day address in Abuja, on June 12, said the All Progressives Congress-led Federal Government would move 100million Nigerians out of poverty within 10 years.

Did @MBuhari not recently copy my manifesto by saying he will Lift millions of Nigerians out of Poverty?

Did he not say he wants to lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty?

Well, take my advice. You will only DROP more millions of Nigerians into Poverty with #MilkBanPolicy! — Oby Ezekwesili (@obyezeks) July 26, 2019.

He said databases of poor and vulnerable Nigerians, as well as that of unemployed youths, were being developed by the Federal Government to address the problem of socio-economic inequality in the society.

“China and Indonesia succeeded under authoritarian regimes. India succeeded in a democratic setting. We can do it,” Buhari said

“With leadership and a sense of purpose, we can lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in 10 years,” he added.

But Ezekwesili said the statement was copied from her manifesto. Ezekwesili during her campaigns had promised to lift 80 million Nigeria from poverty if she was elected the president of Nigeria

The former minister of education made the pledge at the launching of her Presidential campaign at the Chief of Karu Palace, in FCT, in January 2019. She said her party, ACPN, is properly positioned to rescue the country from incompetent leadership, foisted on Nigerians by past and present administrations.

“I am not running to become president, but to rescue our dear county from the misdeed of the past and present administrations,” she said

“The major emphasis of our campaign is that we want to lift over 80 million Nigerians out of poverty,” she added.

This is not the first time the president will be accused of plagiarism. In January 2016 Buhari came under fire from critics after admitting part of his recent “Change Begins With Me” speech was copied from US President Barack Obama’s 2008 victory speech.

Buhari announced the social initiative urging Nigerians to stop bribing and littering in a programme that continues his “war against indiscipline” launched while serving as military ruler in the 1980’s.

“We must resist the temptation to fall back on the same partisanship, pettiness, and immaturity that have poisoned our country for so long,” Buhari said at a ceremony held in the nation’s capital of Abuja.

“It was observed that the similarities between a paragraph in President Obama’s 2008 victory speech…are too close to be passed as coincidence,” presidential spokesman Garba Shehu said in a statement, adding that an “overzealous” speechwriter will face

His campaign organisation was accused of plagiarising Rex institute’s education programme for his re-election campaign. But the president’s campaign organisation denied this allegation.

“Look at the #Nextlevel, it is totally different from what they are showing, Look at our official logo released,” said Buhari’s Campaign Organisation spokesman Festus Keyamo.

“They went to steal a logo crafted it as if it is our won and put it up on social media.”

Although the font of the APC logo is similar to that of the school’s project logo, the arrow ascended from the X in the ‘Next Level’ of that of APC, which is different from that of the school’s which has the letter ‘V’ in ‘level’ merged with X in ‘Next’ with an arrow extending from it.

Buhari’s party APC was exposed on January 12 after publishing a plagiarised manifesto on its website.

Although Buhari’s aide on digital communications initially denied that the website belonged to the party, APC’s spokesman Lanre Issa-Onilu later said the website was going to be used by the party for the presidential election campaign and that it was hacked by people who have “evil plots”.

The first paragraph of the power supply section of the party’s Next Level agenda published on apc.com.ng showed remarkable similarities to the content published on several other websites.

“Assertively pontificate long-term, high-impact testing procedures will progressively synergise timely action items and business “outside the box” thinking. Distinctively foster best-of-breed markets before collaborative schemas. Authoritatively embrace tactical potentialities vis-a-vis low-risk high-yield architectures.

Completely administrate robust testing procedures vis-a-vis dynamic testing procedures. Globally fabricate functional intellectual capital for B2B e-services,” the supposed APC manifesto reads in part.In fact, the section begins with the statement, “Our first priority is keeping America safe and secure,” which indicates that it was copied and not edited before it was published.

The website, which claims to be the “Official Website of All Progressives Congress (APC)”, was first registered on February 7, 2013, and was updated on February 7, 2018, according to whois.net. (The Guardian)

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