A former Commissioner for Information in Abia State, John Okiyi Kalu, has recounted how he personally confirmed that Muhammadu Buhari was not replaced by a body double during his time as president.
Kalu, who served under former Governor Okezie Ikpeazu from 2015 to 2023, gave the account on Tuesday through a post on Facebook.
He explained that in December 2018, he was part of a delegation from Abia State that visited Aso Rock for the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding on the Enyimba Economic City project.
This visit gave him the opportunity to closely observe Buhari, following growing rumours at the time that the former president had died and been replaced by a man named Jubril from Sudan.
The rumour, which spread widely in 2018, suggested that Buhari passed away in 2017 during a medical stay in London and had been substituted with a lookalike.
The claim was pushed mainly by Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), who alleged that top government officials took an oath of secrecy to hide the truth.
Kalu explained that although he never believed the rumour, he had been eager to see Buhari up close to satisfy his own curiosity.
He recalled that his memory of Buhari dated back to the early 1980s when the former military head of state ruled Nigeria alongside his deputy, Tunde Idiagbon.
During the 2018 visit, Kalu carefully examined Buhari’s physical appearance, including his height, chin, facial marks, and walking style, and concluded that he was the same person who ruled Nigeria in 1983.
He also described the former president as being friendly and humorous during the event, especially when engaging in light-hearted conversations with members of the delegation.
According to Kalu, Buhari shared a moment with a lawyer who reminded him of their past political collaboration, which drew laughter from those present.
“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 smiles and how he walks,” he stated.
Continuing, Mr Kalu said: “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 Muhammed 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.”
Muhammadu Buhari, who served as Nigeria’s president from 2015 to 2023 under the All Progressives Congress (APC), died on Sunday in a London hospital at the age of 82.
He was buried on Tuesday in his hometown of Daura, Katsina State.
