Nigeria's President Buhari Denies Rumors That He Died & Was Replaced By a Sudanese Impersonator
You really can't make this stuff up.
Nigeria's president Muhammadu Buhari assures us that he is still very much alive, following a widespread rumor that he had died and been replaced by a Sudanese lookalike.
Yes, you read that correctly.
The president was forced to break his silence and address the conspiracy that had been spreading across social media for several months. Though the roots of the rumor are unclear, videos have been shared and viewed thousands of times on YouTube and Facebook, stating that the country was being ruled by a clone named Jubril in the president's absence, Business Insider reports.
"It's real me, I assure you. I will soon celebrate my 76th birthday and I will still go strong," said Buhari during a town hall meeting in Poland.
The ailing president, who is running for re-election next February, infamously spent five months in London last year for medical treatment, leaving many to speculate about the state of his health. "The ignorant rumours are not surprising — when I was away on medical vacation last year a lot of people hoped I was dead," Buhari wrote on his Twitter.
He called those spreading the conspiracy "ignorant and irreligious."
Jubril the Sudanese imposter may not be running the country, but the fact that such a rumor can be so widely shared and believed, says a lot about how Buhari and his presidency are perceived. It also reflects calls from many Nigerians that the country needs a younger, more fit president to support it's increasingly young population.