A book written by Hillary Clinton’s pastor has been discontinued from sales by its publisher due to evidence of plagiarism. Few days before the book hit the stores on Aug 14, CNN reported it contained words of another pastor without any attribution in at least one column of the Devotional.

Rev. Brian Milford, the president and publisher of The United Methodist Publishing House, which owns Abingdon Press, the book’s publisher said it was CNN’s report that sparked an extensive review of the book.

The book, “Strong for a Moment Like This: The Daily Devotions of Hillary Rodham Clinton,” was premised on emails sent by the author, Rev. Bill Shillady, a United Methodist minister, to Clinton from April 2015 through December last year.

In a statement, Rev Milford said, “Abingdon Press was alarmed to discover other content unattributed by the author. Abingdon Press has zero tolerance for plagiarism. Consequently, we have discontinued sales, will remove existing copies from all sales outlets, and will have them destroyed along with our existing inventory.”

The publisher is contacting all writers and contributors involved, Milford added.

Shillady in his response apologised, saying “I deeply regret my actions, I was wrong and there is no excuse for it. I apologise to those whose work I mistakenly did not attribute. I apologise to those I have disappointed, including Secretary Hillary Clinton, Abingdon Press, and all the writers and others who have helped me publish and promote this book. I ask for everyone’s forgiveness.”

The development will be disappointing to Clinton who appears on the cover of the book, wrote a foreword for the book praising Shillady and his writings and is scheduled to appear at an event this Thursday in New York to promote the book.

Shillady, however, said he has apologised to Rev. Matthew Deuel, the pastor whose writings he copied and that the latter has accepted his apology.

Adegbite Adedotun