Some people thought he had been “cloned”, but “it’s [the] real me, I assure you,”the Nigerian President Mr Buhari said on Sunday.
Rumours that he had been replaced with a body double called “Jubril” from Sudan had been widely shared online.
Mr Buhari, who is seeking re-election in February next year, has been beset by ill health since coming into office in 2015.
The 76-year-old was on “medical leave” in the UK for three months in 2017. He later revealed after his return to Nigeria that “I have never been so sick”, but did not disclose what he was suffering from.
According to an AFP Fact Check investigation the rumours began late last year and have appeared on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Posts promoting the rumours have been viewed more than 500,000 times.
A former aide to Mr Buhari’s predecessor Goodluck Jonathan is among the high profile individuals who have promoted the rumours.
Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of secessionist group Indigenous People of Biafra (Ipob), has also been fuelling the rumours, AFP found.
