There have been rumors in Nigeria questioning the true identity of the man currently ruling the country as president.
According to these claims, President Muhammadu Buhari had died during his last illness which saw him leave the country for about three months for medical treatment abroad, while a look alike had been presented in his place to continue his tenure and deceive Nigerians that the president was still alive.
The major figure behind this claim is Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) who is demanding sovereignty for people from the Eastern part of the country.
You will recall that this was the cause of the deadly civil war that occurred in Nigeria from 6 July 1967 to 15 January 1970 which led to the death of about 2 million people.
At the time, Lieutenant Colonel Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, the then military governor of the Eastern Region of Nigeria in 1966 fought for the creation of a country for the Eastern region called Biafra. This led to a war which the Nigerian forces won in 1970 after the Biafran troops surrendered.
Recently, Nnamdi Kanu has reawakened the Biafra demands and has continued to call on the government of Nigeria to 'allow' the people of Eastern Nigeria form their own country.
Kanu has carried out many media battles with the Nigerian government and fueled protests across the country. Notable among his accusations is the claim that President Muhammadu Buhari had long died and the man posing as the president is a look alike from Sudan named Jubril Al-Sudani.
He took to social media to give an analysis of his claims, comparing the photos of the president before he traveled for the medical trip and the current photos of the president in juxtaposition to the photos of the said Jubril.
All of this had been put to rest after Kanu was arrested and believed to have died in government custody, but that was not to be the case as photos of Kanu in Israel resurfaced recently.
President Buhari was in Poland over the weekend and while fielding questions from Nigerians in Poland during an interactive session, someone asked the president what he had to say about the claims that he was an impostor from Sudan.
The president in his reply said:
‘‘A lot of people hoped that I died during my ill health. It is real me… I will soon celebrate my 76th birthday and I will still go strong."
The presidency has also taken a step further to circulate the president’s comments in an email Newsletter titled “It’s Real Me, President Buhari Responds to Cloning Allegation,” sent to Nigerians across the country.
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