Nigeria's ruling party pledges to 'keep America safe' in manifesto plagiarism row

APC spokesperson blames mistake on 'evil plots' committed by hackers

(AFP/Getty Images)

Nigeria’s ruling party has been accused of plagiarism after its manifesto declared it was dedicated to “keeping America safe and secure”.

The All Progressive’s Congress (APC), led by President Muhammadu Buhari, featured on its website a section dedicated to energy policy ahead of a general election slated for February.

It was allegedly headlined, “Our first priority is keeping America safe and secure”, and featured rambling copy critics said was likely lifted from other websites.

Reno Omokri, a former aide for ex-Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan, accused the APC of “obviously” lifting the language “from Donald Trump”, though it is not clear when or even if the US president ever used the wording.

An APC spokesperson, Lanre Issa-Onilu, claimed on Twitter the website had been "hacked" and "unauthorised content" posted on it.

“We won’t allow the desperate people to succeed in their evil plots," he said.

The content was later removed and replaced with new wording.

It is not the first time the APC has been accused of plagiarism.

Screen grab shows APC's website before wording was updated (APC)

In 2016, Mr Buhari was forced to apologise after it emerged a number of passages in a speech launching his presidential campaign had been lifted from Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential victory speech.

Mr Buhari blamed the incident on “overzealous staff”.