The President of Nigeriam Muhammadu Buhari, has broken his silence on the allegation that he had died and one Jubril from Sudan had been impersonating him.
The rumour first surfaced when the president returned to the country after spending three months in the UK, treating an undisclosed ailment.
Supporters of the president had dismissed it, attributing it to propaganda and it eventually died down.
But the issue resurfaced in the buildup to the 2019 elections.
Speaking in Poland where he is attending a climate change summit, the president told some Nigerians living in the European nation that he would soon celebrate his 76th birthday.
“A lot of people hoped that I died during my ill health. Somebody just thought I am cloned, … it is real me I can assure you. This is the real me… I will soon celebrate my 76th birthday and I will still go strong,” Bashir Ahmad, personal assistant to the president, quoted Buhari to have said.
This is the first time that Buhari would speak on the controversial issue.
Earlier in the week, Lai Mohammed, minister of information, said it was idiotic to conceive such thought.
“It is idiotic to say the President is cloned. I don’t see any serious government responding to that.
“So, the same Jubril that was cloned from Sudan or Chad is in Chad now? Isn’t that stupid?” he had asked at a press conference in Abuja.
“They even said he is from Chad. Yet, the same President is in Chad as we speak. The same Jibrin is remembering what the President did while in Petroleum Trust Fund and he is also remembering what he did when he was head of state between 1983 and 1985.
“All the ministers do not know who is before them when they attend the federal executive council meeting? The President remembers memos he had seen or heard about in 1985 and we say he is cloned.
“So, Jubril from Chad or Sudan will now remember all of these? It is too silly for the government to respond to this. It must be ignored.”
