'It's real me': Nigerian president denies being replaced by lookalike

Latest update : 03/12/2018

© Audu Marte, AFP | Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari takes part in the opening ceremony of the military staff annual conference, on November 28, 2018.

Article text by NEWS WIRES

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday quashed a rumour stemming from his ill health that he had died and been replaced by a lookalike impostor from Sudan, his spokesman said.

"It's real me, I assure you. I will soon celebrate my 76th birthday and I will still go strong," Buhari said as he met with the Nigerian diaspora in Poland, where he is attending the UN COP24 climate summit in Katowice.

He was answering a question from the audience about repeated claims -- spread via tweets, Facebook posts and YouTube videos -- that the leader of Africa's most populous nation was an imposter called "Jubril".

"A lot of people hoped that I died during my ill health. Some even reached out to the Vice President to consider them to be his deputy because they assumed I was dead," Buhari said, according to a statement signed by his spokesman Garba Shehu.

He referred to those who started the rumour as "ignorant" and "irreligious".

Buhari, who is seeking re-election next year, spent a large part of 2017 in London for treatment for a serious illness, which has never been revealed to the public.

A lack of specific information about the illness, along with Buhari's gaunt features and a reduction in public appearances have fed speculation about his well-being.

Claims about the president's identity emerged a month after Buhari returned from another lengthy medical trip to London.

Those pushing the rumour were known critics of the president and his government.

(AFP)

Jibril or Buhari we don't care, u can decide to move back to daura or run back to ur kins in Sudan come 2019....

Rather than begging (from a foreign land), they are critical posers for the President to handle. If he feels he wants to give the impostor saga the same treatment he meted on the Certificate saga, then, we wait for him also.

Whatever the case, #Back2Daura2019 is achievable