Abuja, Nigeria
President is not a clone: Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has finally denied a widespread rumor that he had died and been replaced by a Sudanese body double. “I can assure you all that this is the real me,” he said this week in Poland at the U.N. climate conference. “Later this month, I will celebrate my 76th birthday. And I’m still going strong!” The president was in London for much of 2017 receiving medical treatment—one visit to the U.K. lasted three months—but Buhari never told Nigerians about the nature of his illness. The rumors that he had died and been replaced by a doppelgänger named Jubril went viral in October, when campaigning began for the 2019 presidential election, with “before and after” photos circulating
on social media.