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WORLD NEWS Tuesday 4 december 2018

Nigerian president says he's alive, not an impostor

By SAM OLUKOYA
Associated Press
LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — Ni-
geria's president took the
extraordinary step of deny-
ing rumors that he died and
was replaced by a body
double, telling the country
that he is alive and well.
"It is the real me I assure
you," President Muhamma-
du Buhari said Sunday to a
group of Nigerians during
a visit to Poland, where he
is attending the United Na-
tions Climate Conference.
"A lot of people hoped that
I died during my ill health,"
Buhari said. "I am still going
strong."
The 75-year-old, who was
elected in 2015 and will run
for his second term in Feb- In this Monday Oct. 1, 2018 file photo, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari waves to the crowd during the 58th anniversary cel-
ruary, has been in ill health ebrations of Nigerian independence, in Abuja, Nigeria.
throughout his presidency. Associated Press
But in the video of his re-
marks posted to Twitter by double. His claims were hari made the defeat of The group also posted a change be pursued within
his personal assistant, he shared widely online, often Boko Haram a major goal statement Monday on the multilateral frame work."
joked as he dismissed the accompanied by videos for his presidency. But ex- main IS website claiming He said parameters should
rumors, to laughter and that appeared to portray a tremists continue to carry that, after two days of at- be put in place to monitor
head-shaking applause by dead Buhari lying in a Lon- out deadly suicide bomb- tacks against the barracks, financial flows from devel-
some government officials don hospital. ings and abductions in the many soldiers were killed oped countries to develop-
after a Nigerian posed a This is not the first time that northeast and wider Lake and wounded. ing economies.
question about his identity. Nigerians have speculated Chad region. The Nigerian military has not Lake Chad, one of the
The government has been about a president's mortal- Deadly attacks against the responded to the claims. world's largest freshwater
tight-lipped about Buhari's ity. State secrecy around Nigerian military are on the Buhari said Monday at the lakes, has shrunk by 95 per-
health throughout his presi- former President Umaru rise. Thirty-nine Nigerian sol- U.N. Climate Change con- cent in more than 50 years,
dency. Musa Yar'Adua's ill health diers were killed and an- ference in Poland that no the government says. Bu-
Rumors of his death started fostered similar rumors be- other 43 were wounded in country can fight climate hari has said that has led
in 2017, when Buhari spent fore Yar'Adua died in office November, according to change on its own and to massive social and eco-
seven weeks in London for in 2010. the presidency. called for international sup- nomic loss for millions of
medical treatment. They As Nigeria prepares for the In late November, Buhari port to save the receding families, and has linked it to
abated when he returned upcoming elections, the pivoted from repeated Lake Chad and ensure its violence by Boko Haram in-
to Nigeria, but returned in opposition said the presi- claims from his government safety from Boko Haram surgents. He called on the
full force last month, stoked dent's health renders him that Boko Haram had been fighters. "Nigeria believes international community
by prominent opposition unfit to continue his tenure. "crushed," instead urging in joint and cooperative ef- to support a water transfer
leaders and separatists. Some have questioned his the military to "rise to the fort to tackle the problem," from the Congo Basin, say-
Nnamdi Kanu, leader of ability to contain insurgent challenge." Buhari said, noting that cli- ing it would benefit of over
the separatist group, Indig- groups and Islamic extrem- The Islamic State also mate change effects are 40 million people that de-
enous People of Biafra, said ists, which the president re- claimed it has "full control" felt more acutely in vul- pend on the Lake Chad for
that a Sudanese lookalike, cently said had started us- of Arege, a town near Lake nerable communities. "We their livelihood and to guar-
named Jubril, had taken ing drones. Chad, after Nigerian sol- urge that effort to address antee future security of the
Buhari's place as a body In the 2015 elections, Bu- diers fled their barracks. the challenges of climate region.q