Obasesam Okoi|11 December 2015|6:30an
While I decided to pray for the Governor rather than criticize him, one of his Media Aides, Mr Inok
Solomon, decided to write a rejoinder to an earlier article I wrote about the governor's economic
philosophy, claiming that Ayade's philosophy cannot be comprehended by Cross Riverians abroad because we are naive about local development.
In the process of trying to educate the public he lifted quotations from my article verbatim without giving
any credit. This amounted to plagiarism. I have tried to respectfully draw his attention to the plagiarized portion of his article and the fact that it violates academic integrity. Instead of taking correction he decided to delete my comments but retain the plagiarized content.
He went further to question whether I am Professor Amartya Sen.
Unfortunately one praise singer and disappointed Information Commissioner, Mathew Okiri, who
claims to have bagged a PhD from a non English speaking University in Spain, decided to join issues by defending Inok's behavior, thereby rendering his doctorate useless.
I would like to give the two of them a brief lecture on plagiarism because it permeates all of Inok's writings while gullible people feed on crappy
philosophies lifted from Google to deceive the public.
According to Harvard University Guide to Using Sources, "it is considered plagiarism to draw any
idea or any language from someone else without adequately crediting that source in your paper. It doesn't matter whether the source is a published author, another student, a Website without clear authorship, a Website that sells academic papers,
or any other person: Taking credit for anyone else's work is stealing, and it is unacceptable in all
academic situations, whether you do it intentionally or by accident."
My article used Armatya Sen's Capability Thesis to analyze the weaknesses of Ayade's economic
model and what I think could have been the ideal situation if Ayade were to look at development from
that mass of humanity. I received my Bachelor's degree in International Development Studies and Global Political Economy and had reviewed extensive literature on Sen's theory, it's philosophical foundations, and it's connection to poverty studies. Even if I am woken
up from sleep I can give a lecture on this topic without reading any book.
Even though I paraphrased Sen's work by using my language to
describe the philosophical underpinnings of his theory I gave proper credit to his name and the
book where the knowledge was lifted. If Inok Solomon who had never read Sen's book but
encountered his arguments through my article chose to write a rejoinder, it is standard practice that he reference Sen and then acknowledge that the knowledge he is referencing was found in my article. In proper academic writing he can say (Sen,
…as cited in Okoi…). Or he can put it that…An article written by Okoi titled..ABC…and published on
Facebook or Cross River Watch on XYZ date cited Armatya Sen's capability thesis and argues that…A reasonable person will know that he didn't read Sen but encountered him through my article. That's the ethics of proper writing. Failure to follow this principle is a violation of
academic integrity .
Plagiarism anywhere is intellectual fraud and unacceptable behavior. By this very behavior the governor's Media Aide, Inok Solomon, has committed a serious intellectual
fraud. I would like him to take corrections to educate himself rather than making defensive
comments that suggests he is a commander in chief of knowledge and therefore unwilling to
humble himself and learn.
Ordinarily Inok does not qualify to educate me on development policy. But I am humble to learn from his perspective of what development is in his village. No other person can teach me about his village but him.
I read his writings because he seems to be communicating the governor's mind.
Unfortunately his poor communication of development issues has destroyed the governor's reputation as many people are unwilling to accept the nonsensical
economic theories he claims are guiding the governor's actions which, of course, are in stark
contrast to what the man is doing in reality. I have gone back to the mountain to continue praying for the governor. Only prayers can liberate
our state from this madness.
Obasesam Okoi
Is a Cross River born Canadian University Don
