Muhammadu Buhari, the President of Nigeria, recently issued a statement denying rumors that he had died and been replaced by a body double. Following Buhari’s five month absence from the country, as he sought treatment for an unnamed, serious illness in the UK, rumours began to circulate in Nigeria that the 75-year-old national leader had died, and replaced by a lookalike named Jubril, who was of Sudanese descent.

During a town hall session with Nigerians living in Poland, where he was attending a conference, Buhari addressed the elephant in the room, and its lack thereof.

“It’s the real me, I assure you. I will soon celebrate my 76th birthday and I will still go strong,” Buhari said, when asked about Jubril.

“A lot of people hoped that I died during my ill health. Some even reached out to the Vice President to consider them to be his deputy because they assumed I was dead. That embarrassed him a lot and of course, he visited me when I was in London convalescing,’’ he said.

He also took to social media platforms to issue a statement to the same effect.