President Muhammadu Buhari, on Friday, said the claims that he was dead and being impersonated at the Presidential Villa by one ‘Jubril Aminu from Sudan’, was not a funny joke.
Gatekeepers News reports that Buhari said this in a documentary — “celebrating a patriot, a leader, an elder statesman” — screened on Friday night at a private dinner organised by his family and close associates to celebrate his 80th birthday.
The documentary, produced and directed by US based filmmaker Ose Oyemadan, showcased the President’s early life, school days, military career, rise as Head of State in 1984, coup and imprisonment, release, PTF days and return to democracy where he contested elections in 2003, 2007, 2011, 2015 when he won and his re-election in 2019.
The rumour surfaced in 2018 when the President returned to the country after spending 103 days in the UK, treating an undisclosed ailment.
Buhari said in the documentary that the rumour was the work of some mischief makers to demonstrate their cheekiness.
Asked if he found it funny, the president responded in the negative, adding that it was a ploy to cause distraction from the main issues.
He further said that some Nigerians have a way of creating humour to feast on when they do not understand something.
“Yes! People said I am somebody from Sudan. I didn’t bother with the name. Nigerians have mischievous ways of explaining themselves,” Buhari replied to the interviewer when asked about the incident.
“No. It’s not funny because those who made those statements, they just want to be cheeky. They want to distract attention from the main issue.
“Our main issue is to do the infrastructure, make people aware that they need to work hard to live well. They just want to enjoy life without earning the respect of their community and so on.”
Buhari, while commenting on the issue for the first time in 2018, said though some people hoped that he had died, he was “real” and “will still go strong”.
