Some people wished me dead, hence the cloning rumors —Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari has finally spoken out on rumours that he had died and one Jubril from Sudan, a double, has been acting in his stead.

The rumour was first floated by fugitive leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, after Buhari spent three months in a UK hospital.

Social media has been abuzz of late with a resurgence of the rumour, prompting a response from the presidency, and now the president directly.

Speaking in Poland where he is attending a climate change summit, the president joked about the matter, assuring the Nigerian community there that the rumours were completely false.

Read also: Gov Obiano in trouble with APGA for endorsing Buhari

“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.

Earlier in the week, Lai Mohammed, Minister of Information and Culture, said it was “idiotic” to even suggest such a thing.

“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.”

VIDEO: “ President @MBuhari’s response to the rumors [by ignorant and irreligious people] of him being cloned.

“…Somebody just thought I am cloned, …it is real me I sure you.” pic.twitter.com/TCU6Bzziw4

— Bashir Ahmad (@BashirAhmaad) December 2, 2018

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