A former Commissioner for Information in Abia State, John Okiyi Kalu, has dismissed long-standing rumours that late President Muhammadu Buhari was replaced by a lookalike named Jubril al-Sudani during his tenure.

Kalu, who served under former Governor Okezie Ikpeazu from 2015 to 2023, recounted how he met Buhari in person and confirmed that the rumour was baseless.

In a post on his verified Facebook page on Tuesday, Kalu stated that he met Buhari in 2018 and confirmed firsthand that the then-president was not a clone.

The claim that President Buhari had died in 2017 while undergoing medical treatment in London, and was secretly replaced by a body double named Jubril from Sudan, first emerged in late 2018. It was popularised by the leader of the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu.

Kanu insisted that Buhari had been “cloned,” and accused the presidency of swearing close aides to secrecy. The allegation gained traction on social media and, at one point, drew a public denial from Buhari himself while he was on a trip to Poland in 2018.

Kalu, who debunked the report, said he had the opportunity to interact with Buhari during an official function in 2018 and had no doubt that he was speaking with the same man who was elected president in 2015.

He said, “Sometime in December 2018, I was part of Abia’s delegation to the signing of the Memorandum of understanding (MOU) for Enyimba Economic City with the federal government, which culminated in the pledge to invest N20 billion in the project by the Buhari-led federal government.

“That was my 2nd opportunity to meet President Muhammadu Buhari up close, having done so previously when he visited Aba in January 2015 to campaign at Etche Road Field with APC chieftains.”

The former commissioner said that although he never believed the speculation, the desire to verify the rumour preoccupied his mind when he visited Buhari at the presidential villa in 2018.

Kalu said, “I must confess that the major thing on my mind when we visited Buhari’s Aso Rock in 2018 was to personally verify if he was the same General Buhari we celebrated as children in 1983 for ousting the ‘corrupt’ Shagari administration and introducing War Against Indiscipline (WAI) with his deputy Tunde Idiagbon or ‘Jubril al-Sudani’ as some of his adversaries wanted us to believe.

“For one, I knew the tall and handsome General Buhari of 1983 had a black mark (prayer mark) on his forehead that we were told in those days was because he was always touching his forehead to the ground or a prayer mat as a muslim. I also had a fair idea of his exact height, long chin, broad smile and how he walks.

“As a pure scientist, I firmly believe in observation and testing of facts, so I went and tested as expected.

“The Buhari I saw that day was the same General Muhammadu Buhari that I saw in Aba in 2015 but I made two additional surprising observations: he was a very honest and jovial man with no airs.

“When we went for group photographs, after signing the MOU, as we were being arranged, he was exchanging banters with Governor Okezie Ikpeazu, and as a man on a mission, I deliberately got very close.

“When Governor Ikpeazu introduced a popular lawyer to him and the lawyer reminded Buhari that they worked closely together from 2003 till 2015, President Buhari retorted ‘You were with me in 2003, I lost, in 2007 I lost, you were also with me in 2011 I lost, and when you left me in 2015 I won.’ I couldn’t help chuckling, but of course, the lawyer must have left Aso Rock disappointed.”