Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari (75) has strongly denied the rumours that he would have died and replaced by a clone yesterday. “Its real me,” he said during a meeting with compatriots in Poland.
The rumours that the president would have died have been on social media for several months. Reason were undefined health problems for which Buhari was treated for several months in Great Britain last year. According to the rumour mill he would not have survived and he would have been replaced by a man from Sudan, a certain Jubril.
Birthday
Proofs were never delivered, and yesterday Buhari himself abandoned the theory at a conference in Poland. “Its real me,” he said. “I assure you. I am about to celebrate my 76th birthday and I will keep on going.”
“A lot of people were hoping that I would die during my illness”, he continued. “Some even contacted the vice president and asked if they could follow him if he became president. Because they thought I was dead. That was particularly embarrassing for him. He came to visit me in London when I was recovering.”
Buhari wrote on his twitter handle; “One of the questions that came up today in my meeting with Nigerians in Poland was on the issue of whether I‘ve been cloned or not. The ignorant rumours are not surprising — when I was away on medical vacation last year a lot of people hoped I was dead.”
One of the questions that came up today in my meeting with Nigerians in Poland was on the issue of whether I‘ve been cloned or not. The ignorant rumours are not surprising — when I was away on medical vacation last year a lot of people hoped I was dead. pic.twitter.com/SHTngq6LJU
— Muhammadu Buhari (@MBuhari) December 2, 2018
He called the disseminators of the gossip “ignorant and wicked”. Buhari’s statement was later also distributed in an e-mail and a video on Twitter.
On 16 February next year there will be presidential and parliamentary elections in Nigeria. Buhari is a candidate to succeed himself and hopes for a new term of office.
