IT’S REAL ME, I HAVE NOT BEEN CLONED, SAYS BUHARI
President Muhammadu Buhari has on Sunday, reacted to a trending allegation that he was cloned.
Buhari, according to the allegation, is dead, while the person going about as Nigeria’s President is a certain Jubril Aminu from Sudan, Buhari’s cloned version.
But, speaking in far away Krakow, Poland, Buhari called those spreading the allegation as “ignorant and irreligious.”
He described himself as the real Buhari, saying that he would soon celebrate his 76th birthday and would be stronger.
‘‘It’s real me, I assure you. I will soon celebrate my 76th birthday and I will still go strong”, a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mr Garba Shehu, quoted the President as saying.
Buhari, who was addressing the Nigerian community in Poland, responded to a specific question on whether he was the real Buhari Nigerians elected as President in 2015.
The interactive session was put together by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Diaspora Affairs, Mrs. Abike Dabiri-Erewa.
The President spoke further, ‘‘A lot of people hoped that I died during my ill health.
“Some even reached out to the Vice-President (Prof. Yemi Osinbajo) to consider them to be his deputy because they assumed I was dead.
“That embarrassed him (Osinbajo) a lot and of course, he visited me when I was in London convalescing… It’s real me; I assure you.”
The President added that he was beyond harassment by anyone, except his grandchildren.
‘‘If I am getting harassed by anyone, it is my grandchildren, who are getting too many”, he said.
He told the session that he would continue to deliver on his campaign promises of improving security, the economy and the fight against corruption.
Buhari gave details,‘‘Those in the North-East will tell you that in spite of the recent setbacks, there is a difference between the time we came and before.
‘‘We are not doing badly on security, economy and agriculture. We have virtually stopped the importation of food, especially rice and we are saving a lot of money.
‘‘We now have food security and that has come with fiscal security because a lot of young educated people have not regretted going back to the farms and earning a respectable living.
‘‘I am afraid, this is not receiving good publicity… but a lot of people in the rural areas are enjoying the benefits of our interventions in agriculture.”
PUNCH