Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari has denied claims he died and was replaced by a Sudanese impostor, breaking his silence on a rumor that has circulated on social media for months.
One theory widely aired on social media — and by some political opponents — was that he had been replaced by a lookalike from Sudan called Jubril.
No evidence has been presented, but videos making the claim have still been viewed thousands of times on YouTube and Facebook.
“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,” Buhari said in a post on Twitter, showing a video of his answer at a town hall session in Poland, where he is attending a conference.
“The ignorant rumors are not surprising — when I was away on medical vacation last year a lot of people hoped I was dead.
“Some people reached out to [the Vice-President] to consider them to be his Vice-President because they assumed I was dead.”
The presidency circulated Buhari’s comments in an emailed statement entitled “It’s Real Me, President Buhari Responds to Cloning Allegation”.
