Cloning and fake news

PRESIDENT Buhari has finally broken silence on whether he is real or fake while reacting to the question asked by the Nigerian community in Poland, during his climate change meeting. The news of double or cloned Buhari has become the matter of discussion on social media, the sources of the fake news or conspiracy theory was said to have emanated from the Facebook wall of Nnamdi Kanu, separatist leader of Independent People of Biafra (IPOB), who was declared wanted by the Nigerian government for treason.

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The fake news, however, got to politicians who manipulated it to suit their vested or parochial interest. It is on record that the president was in London last year for his medical vacation. The president spent more than two months receiving medical treatment for an undisclosed illness. After he returned from the long medical vacation, he admitted he had never been seriously sick like that in his life.

The absurdity of the fake news being circulated by the purveyors is that the double Buhari named Jubrin came from Sudan. To them, Nigeria is being governed by a cloned president. As laughable as the story of Jubrin from Sudan appears, the merchants of the fake news forgot that a cloned individual must not have all the identity features of the real one. I wonder how the cloned Buhari resembled the one in villa with the same height, accent, tooth-gap and his usual jokes. If Buhari has been cloned as the night moon story tellers want us to believe, his wife, Aisha, would have been the first to raise the alarm.

I will blame Buhari’s media aides for not taming the conspiracy theory at the initial stage. Of course, dangerous and conspiracy theories like this, which has far-reaching negative implications to the gullible minds of Nigerians, should be hurriedly put at the bay. The media team should have immediately set the record straight. Why did it take this long before the president, from far away Poland, disputed the fake news and reassured Nigerians he is not a clone?

The Jubrin from Sudan conspiracy theory gained ground because of the inability of those who matter to timely respond. The lackluster attitude towards the fake news by the authority has given the promoters of the theory the upper hand to propagate their false and concocted news with relatively ease.

As the 2019 general election draws closer, president Buhari should expect more violent campaigns against his re-election bid.

Ibrahim Mustapha Pambegua, Kaduna