Minister of Information and Culture Alhaji Lai Mohammed yesterday debunked claims that the recently launched Change Begins With Me campaign was plagiarized.
This is coming following allegations by two media consultants, Akin Fadeyi and Omor Bazuaye that the Minister plagiarised their ideas.
However, Lai Mohammed, in an interview with The Nation, described the allegation as ridiculous and baseless.
He said: “The Change Begins With Me campaign is entirely my creation and nobody including Akin Fadeyi can claim I borrowed his or her idea or accuse me of plagiarism.
“I will forward to you irrefutable proof that I started working on the Change Begins With Me concept a few days after my nomination as a minister and by the 12th of October 2015. A day after I appeared before the Senate for confirmation, Mr. Brian Ebden, the Communication Marketing Consultant working with me sent me an email which you will receive(dated the same October 12) referring to the completed work on the Change Begins With Me campaign.
“I will send to your email address confirmatory and irrefutable proof that by the 31st of October 2015 all radio jingles and TV commercials had been completed.”
He added: “Akin Fadeyi was sent to me by a former Editor of ThisDay only in December 2015 or January 2016.
“You will also receive evidence that I met with top leading Nigerian musicians and producers like Tiwa Savage, Sunny Ade, KWAM 2, Don Jazzy, PSquare and many others at the Southern Sun Hotel in December 2015 seeking their cooperation in the Change Begins With Me Campaign.
“How then can anyone suggest from the above evidence that I stole Akin Fadeyi or anybody’s idea in respect of this campaign.
“It will interest you that as of today, there are two other people claiming that I stole their ideas in respect of this project.
“While it is true that I received over 20 proposals across the country, including from eminent TV giants like Jimmy Johnson (alias Okoro), I told each and every one of them that I had already concluded work on the project.
“It is to the credit of Mr. Jimmy Johnson that despite being one of the first to approach me with his proposal, he was one of the first to congratulate me on the successful launch of the campaign. He is alive; you can corroborate my story with him.”