Only “ignorant and irreligious” people believe I’m dead – Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari has finally broken his silence on rumours suggesting he had died and had been replaced by one Jubril, a body double from Sudan.

The president made the clarification while responding to questions during an interactive session with the Nigerian community in Krakow, Poland.

“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 real me; I assure you. I will soon celebrate my 76th birthday. I am still going strong,” Buhari said.

A member of the audience had asked Buhari to shed light on the matter.

Buhari, who was in the country for the Conference of the Parties (COP24) of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), described the rumour as “ignorant and irreligious”.

The president also used the occasion to restate his government’s commitment to security, the economy and the fight against corruption.

“Those in the northeast 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,” he said.

In his remarks, the Ambassador of Nigeria to Poland, Mr. Eric Adagogo Bell-Gam, praised Nigerians living in the country for being worthy ambassadors of the country.