Joseph Bakare
The Presidency has denied rumours that a clone President Muhammadu Buhari is at the helm of affairs in Nigeria.
Femi Adesina, Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to President Muhammadu Buhari, made the clarification via a statement on Thursday, December 17.
In the article published on his personal website entitled, ” Buhari At 78: If Only We Knew This President,” Adesina stated it is sad that a lot of intellectuals believed the ‘Jubril from Sudan’ rumours despite various facts negating the fallacy.
He said, “One day, the President had given me an appointment to announce in the early days of the administration. By then, some people had started talking of northernisation agenda. So I said, “Mr President, this is the murmur we hear. Why don’t you consider giving this position to another part of the country?”
“He looked at me calmly, smiled, and said: “If a search has been conducted for a position, and someone has been thrown up as the best candidate. And I then bypass him because of where he comes from, or because of his religion, haven’t I been unfair to that person?”
“Food for thought, indeed. This is Jubril from Sudan and not Muhammadu Buhari, who had died during the medical vacation in 2017, some people say. You have a clone in Aso Villa, not Buhari. Idiocy, sadly believed by even some intellectuals.”
He continued with what happened in the past.
“Let me tell you a story. On the day the President finally returned to the country in August 2017, after months of absence, the Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Abayomi Olonisakin, was giving out his daughter in marriage.
“I had attended the church service, decked in complete Agbada, with a cap to match. From the wedding, I went straight to the airport to join the reception party.
“We formed a welcome line, as we usually do. And as the President shook each person, he had one wisecrack or the other to say. When he got to me, he took my hand and said: ‘Adesina, this is the best I’ve seen you dressed.’
“We both laughed heartily, and the television cameras captured it. I remember that many people asked me later what had tickled the President and me that we laughed so uproariously.
“Jubril from Sudan? Would he know my name as Adesina? Would he know I rarely wear Agbada? How ridiculous can some people be?
“Another story. The journalist Lindsay Barret had been a longtime friend of the President. One day, he sent me to give his greetings.
“When I did, the President said: ‘Lindsay Barret. I remember meeting him at the war front in 1968. He was covering the war. There was a day he was almost killed in an ambush, and he then described himself as a ‘devout coward,’ who was lucky to be alive.
“Jubril of Sudan? And he remembers Barret, whom he met at the war front in 1968? Tell it to the marines.”