- Say ‘your handlers are giving strength to strange news’
- Commenting on this would make me look like an idiot – Keyamo
- We can’t rely on Lai Mohammed – Ozekhome
- Desist from rubbishing Nigeria’s image, others warn ‘rumour peddlers’
Nigerians across all sectors and geo-political zones, especially those who have described themselves as loyalists of President Muhammadu Buhari, have called on him to clear the air on the lingering “fake news” of an impostor, Jibrin of Sudan, occupying Aso Villa as the President of Nigeria.
Stakeholders, who spoke to our correspondents in separate interviews, reacted to the recent response of the Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, on the matter, saying his reaction lacked substance.
According to them, “the news, which some believe is fake and others believe is true,” is gaining traction on media platforms across the world and should not be treated like the Nigerian government is currently treating it.
A reliable source in the Presidency told our correspondent, in Abuja, that not a few staff believed that there could be some iota of truth in the Jibrin of Sudan story, noting that inasmuch as he would not believe such a story, he would urge the Federal Government to treat it with the seriousness it deserved.
“I find it hard to believe that people can cook up such a story and stand by it; and that many Nigerians, at home and abroad, are making a big deal out of same. But sometimes, when you hear the finality with which people, even those who work here, talk about it, as if they don’t see the President almost everyday, you begin to get confused. Elsewhere in the world, the originators of the fake news would have been told to provide proof or brought to book. But again, I think the President himself needs to nip this in the bud by proving to Nigerians that he is the same old Buhari, even if it would make hilarious headlines,” the source, who preferred anonymity, owing to the sensitivity of the issue, said.
They can only convince people who don’t have brain, but then the President should also address all of us. They should tell us when he will address us so that we will all sit in front of the television. He should say he is not dead. Those who poisoned him are surprised that he survived
THREE THINGS BUHARI SHOULD DO
A senior pastor of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity for reasons he disclosed to our correspondent, said the story of Jibrin of Sudan ruling over Nigerians sounded incredible, but added, however, that people could go to the extreme to retain power.
While listing three key things needed to be done by the President to clear the air, he said the Presidency had been unwittingly giving credence to the purported news by refusing to address it the way it should be
addressed.
He said, “Some said the President had been cloned; others said a double was worked on to look exactly like Buhari, and that his head could not have been worked on. These people are the ones saying that the President should remove his cap and prove that he is the same person. This is simple. Let him address the nation and do this. Everyone will laugh and it will end there. The second is that he should get the hospital in London, where he was treated or the doctors that treated him to refute the rumour of his death.
“How can people be spreading fake news about our President and the country is not taking it seriously even if the opposition are the ones going too far? I shut my family members up when they say these things, but you are tempted to believe them because this is the only place in the world where we do not ask our leaders to produce authentic reports of their health status before running for key elective posts. They have also said that Aisha knows that Jibrin is not her husband, and that she has left the Villa. Let Aisha come out to say they are saying nonsense. It is as simple as that. Why are we unnecessarily giving this news so much life?”
The information minister had said, during an interview with journalists in Abuja, that “it is idiotic to say the President is cloned. I don’t see any serious government responding to that.”
He said, “They even said he is from Chad. Yet, the same President is in Chad as we speak. The same Jibrin is remembering what the President did while in Petroleum Trust Fund and he is also remembering what he did when he was Head of State between 1983 and 1985.
“All the Ministers do not know who is before them when they attend the Federal Executive Council meeting? The President remembers the memos he had seen or heard about in 1985 and we say he is cloned. So, Jibrin from Chad or Sudan will now remember all of these? It is too silly for the government to respond to this. It must be ignored.”
‘NO HARM IN ADDRESSING NIGERIANS’
Nigerians have, however, kicked against this attitude, saying all they need to convince them is for Buhari himself to simply speak out on the matter just like former President Olusegun Obasanjo once dismissed the rumour of his death.
A marketing communication consultant, Mr. Joe Anatune, who spoke with our correspondent in Lagos, described the news as a difficult one.
This is good for PDP as a negative campaign weapon because the more they talk about it, the more people believe in it,”
he said.
He, however, said that Buhari’s handlers were not helping the matter by refusing to do what they should have done, stressing that “it’s unfortunate that many people believe the
news.”
I find it hard to believe that people can cook up such a story and stand by it; and that many Nigerians, at home and abroad, are making a big deal out of same. But sometimes, when you hear the finality with which people, even those who work here, talk about it, as if they don’t see the President almost everyday, you begin to get confused
I’M NOT AN IDIOT – KEYAMO
But the spokesman for the Buhari Campaign Organisation, Mr. Festus Keyamo (SAN), went on the offensive while speaking with our correspondent in reaction to the story.
“How can a regular newspaper make a story out of that? That kind of a thing should be a rumour for the unregulated social media. It is unfair, that is unfair. If I comment on it, it will make me look like an idiot,” Keyamo told The Point in Abuja on Sunday.
Keyamo’s reaction came as the National President, Paths of Peace Initiative, a civil society group, Comrade Dandi Eze, said Buhari should respond to the allegation if he is sure that he is truly the Buhari that Nigerians voted into power in 2015.
“These people cannot hold millions of Nigeria hostage because of their personal interest. I heard that Lai Mohammed was condemning some people over this case and I laugh at him. My take is that Buhari himself should come out openly to address Nigerians over this issue to show that he is not a cloned person while Nigerians will ask him some questions for verification,” Eze told The Point.
Speaking in the same vein, human rights advocate, Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN), said President Buhari should come out and speak on the matter “whether the case is true or false.”
He said, “Nigerians will not sit down and listen to the lies being told by Lai Mohammed. This government is full of propaganda and cannot be trusted at all. If this government tells you good morning, you have to go outside to confirm it before you start work. They have told a lot of Nigerians a lot of lies. I can relate them to government of cartel in 1945, which lied about everything.
“See, we are not saying generically, Buhari has been cloned, that is the erroneous case that Lai Mohammed is putting on his head. But we can tell you that there was information that someone named Jibrin from Sudan, who looks like Buhari, was brought into Aso Rock as Buhari. Look, when Aisha cried out that the person in Aso Rock was not her husband, was that justifying the claim by Nigerians? What I can tell you is that this case is a serious rumour and a lot of things that we called rumours in this government eventually came out to be true.”
“Look at Buhari’s WAEC case. This government has cheapened itself a lot with lies and Nigerians are watching them. It is a government that has no integrity, except lies about everything,” Ozekhome told our correspondent.
‘IT’S THE JOKE OF THE YEAR’
However, the Special Adviser to Governor Abdul Aziz Yari of Zamfara State on Media and Publicity, Alhaji Ibrahim Magaji Dosara, who spoke with our correspondent on Sunday, said, “This must be a joke of the year.”
“I never knew when Nigerians became experts in changing a human being to another one. The people who are insinuating this are those people who have one thing or the other in their minds and who are skeptical of the forthcoming general elections. They are being apprehensive of Buhari’s success,” he said.
He maintained that the rumour was not true, stressing that he never believed it as nobody had ever imagined that this could happen.
“It has never happened in the history of the world,” he said.
His reaction came just as a prominent Peoples Democratic Party stalwart in the state, Alhaji Abu Zahara, maintained that, though he was from the opposition party, the rumour that Buhari had been faked was the greatest mischief he had ever heard.
Many of Buhari’s supporters, who said they could bet with all they had that some people were just being mischievous with the “fake news”, however, urged the President to address the issue by re-assuring Nigerians.
In separate interviews, they also urged those peddling the rumour to desist from rubbishing the image of Nigeria.
“President Buhari should come out to say he is the one. I know what they are saying is not possible. They can only convince people who don’t have brain, but then the President should also address all of us. They should tell us when he will address us so that we will all sit in front of the television. He should say he is not dead. Those who poisoned him are surprised that he survived. That is the way I see it,” a security guard in the campaign office of an APC gubernatorial candidate, said.
