President Muhammadu Buhari has described the insinuation that he is no longer alive but a ‘Jibril Aminu from Sudan’ as the person currently directing affairs in the Presidential Villa, Abuja, as a joke that is not funny.
The President said this in a documentary titled, ‘Essential Muhammadu Buhari’ shown on Friday night at a private dinner organised by his family and very closed associates to celebrate his 80th birthday tagged “Celebrating A Patriot, a Leader, an Elder Statesman”.
Buhari, who said some Nigerians had a way of creating humour to feast on something they did not understand, stated that the rumour was the work of some mischief makers to demonstrate their cheekiness.
Asked by an interviewer if he heard about the speculation a while back that he was not Buhari, he replied smiling, “Yes! People said I am somebody from Sudan. I didn’t bother with the name. Nigerians have mischievous ways of explaining themselves.”
Asked how he found such things funny, the President said: “No. It is not funny because those who made those statements just want to be cheeky. They want to distract attention from the main issue.
“Our main issue is to do infrastructure, make people aware that they need to work hard to live well. They just want to enjoy life without earning the respect of their community and so on.”
President Buhari also said he would not miss Aso Rock much because he was being harassed and that his efforts to make the country better seem not to be good enough and appreciated by some people.
Asked what he would miss about the presidency when he leaves office, Buhari said: “I wonder if I am going to miss much. I think I’m being harassed. I believe I’m trying my best but still, my best is not good enough. Because there are people around that think that they can intimidate me to get what they want instead of going through certain systems to earn whatever they want to earn. And some people want to be clever by half.”
