It has been months that rumours of Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari's death and being replaced by a Sudanese lookalike has been making rounds on social media. Some of Buhari’s political opponents had been spreading on social media that the President had been replaced by a lookalike from Sudan called Jubril.
However, after five months of treatment for an undisclosed illness in Britain, the Nigerian President on Sunday broke his silence and denied the claims of his death and being replaced by an imposter.
“It’s real me, I assure you. I will soon celebrate my 76th birthday and I will still go strong,” Buhari said in a town hall session in Poland when asked about the alleged imposter.
Also Read | Nigeria: Severe floods leave 100 die, national disaster declared
The Nigerian President said that a lot of “ignorant and irreligious” people were hoping for his death but to their surprise “I am alive and it’s real me.”
“A lot of people hoped that I died during my ill health,” he said and called those who spread the rumours of his death and cloning were “ignorant and irreligious”.
The office of the Nigerian President circulated Buhari’s clarification in an emailed statement titled- “It’s Real Me, President Buhari Responds to Cloning Allegation”.
Although the opponents of Buhari didn’t present any evidence to support the rumours, the videos making the claim were still being viewed thousands of times on Youtube and Facebook.