Politics
Accused of stealing, Lai Mohammed vows to meet Afe Babalola in court
Alhaji Lai Mohammed, Minister of Information and Culture, has vowed to meet Afe Babalola in court for accusing him of stealing the idea for the Federal Government’s national re-orientation campaign, ‘Change Begin with Me’ idea.
This is as Mohammed reinstated his ownership of the idea and rejected claims by Chief Afe Babalola and Akin Fadeyi, that the programme was a copyright version of the drama skits ‘Not In My Country’ initiative.
A senior lawyer at the Afe Babalola Chambers, Adebayo Adenipekun, had about seven days ago wrote to President Buhari, accusing the government of copyrighting his ‘Not In My Country’ project in the government’s recently launched ‘Change Begin With Me’ programme.
However Mohammed, after introducing the Change Begins With Me campaign to stakeholders in the private sector in Lagos, insisted that the idea behind the programme was designed and finalised two months before he came in contact with Fadeyi.
“I was nominated in October and the moment I was nominated, I called my team and I told them that the most important thing was to change the attitude of Nigerians. I am happy that the agencies that worked on the idea are here today.
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“We started working on the initiative immediately and on 14 October, 2015 when I was confirmed as a minister, I had completed work on the initiative. I made available to the media, incontrovertible evidence that by October 14th, 2015, I had completed work on the initiative.
“On 31 October, 2015, I had completed the radio jingles and television commercials. After we had completed work on the programme, Mr. Akin Fadeyi came to me on December 30th, 2015. So, how can one accuse me of stealing an idea which was completed by October last year? The person, who claimed that I stole his idea came to me in December, Mohammed said.
He further threatened, “Mr Akin Fadeyi, Afe Babalola and I will meet in court.”
By Ebere Ndukwu …
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