Man Posing As Buhari Is A Contracted Political Decoy – Ex-British Lawmaker

A British politician and former military officer, Eric Joyce has again stirred an already existing controversy over the identity of the man occupying Nigeria’s seat of power, reports a group, Hope For Nigeria, on their Facebook Page.

Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari in December 2018 denied rumours that he has died and been replaced by a lookalike.

But the ex-lawmaker had, in 2017, sympathized with Nigeria over the reported death of President Buhari during the vacation stay that lasted 104 days in London.

In his latest pounce on the Nigerian government, according to Hope For Nigeria, the former parliamentarian yesterday claimed that the present Nigeria’s President is not the Buhari Nigerians voted for in 2015 but a political decoy who is on a contract.

It could be recalled that the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu had also consistently insisted that a certain Jubril al-Sudani from Sudan has taken over from Buhari.

Joyce challenged the Nigerian government to file a legal action against him (Eric Joyce) if his claims of Buhari’s alleged death is false.

In a post he reportedly shared online, the ex-lawmaker insisted that Buhari is no longer alive.

He wrote: “Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari is Dead, the lookalike currently in-charge of Africa’s most populous country is a contracted political decoy.

“If my claims are Untrue, the Nigerian government should sue me”.

Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari has denied rumours that he has died and been replaced by a lookalike.

Some people thought he had been “cloned”, but “it’s [the] real me, I assure you,” Mr Buhari said.

Rumours that he had been replaced with a body double called “Jubril” from Sudan had been widely shared online.

The 75-year-old Mr Buhari, whowon re-election in February this year, has been beset by ill health since taking office in 2015.

He was on “medical leave” in the UK for three months in 2017.

He revealed after his return to Nigeria that “I have never been so sick”, but did not disclose what he was suffering from. He insists he is now in good health.

According to an AFP Fact Check investigation the rumours began late last year and have appeared on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Posts promoting the rumours have been viewed more than 500,000 times.

A former aide to Mr Buhari’s predecessor, Goodluck Jonathan, My Femi Fani-Kayode is among the high profile individuals who have promoted the rumours.

Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of secessionist group Indigenous People of Biafra (Ipob), has also been fuelling the rumours, AFP found.

In one instance, Mr Kanu shared two images of Mr Buhari, one reversed, to allege that the Nigerian leader, who is right-handed, was using his left hand – “proving” that that meant he was a body double.

A scene from the 1997 film “Face/Off” has also been used by those promoting the rumours to show how a dead Buhari’s face could have been transplanted to a body double.

Mr Buhari who celebrated his 76th birthday on 17 December was asked about the rumours during a meeting with Nigerians when he was in Poland attending a UN climate change conference last year.

Mr Buhari said those spreading the rumours about his health and identity were ”ignorant and irreligious.”

”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… It’s [the] real me; I assure you,” Mr Buhari added.