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Nigeria’s president has had to take the unusual step of denying that he has died and been replaced by a clone.

Muhammadu Buhari, who has disappeared for months at a stretch before, reassuredsupporters at a town hall event in Poland, where he was attending the UN Climate Change conference on Sunday, “It’s the real me, I assure you. I will soon celebrate my 76th birthday and I will still go strong.”

His office also circulated an email, titled: “It’s Real Me, President Buhari Responds to Cloning Allegation,” ahead of the speech.

Buhari was addressing online rumors, which started in 2017, that he had been replaced by a Sudanese man called Jubril.

In January of that year he traveled to London to have a persistent ear infection treated, according to officials. But then he disappeared for months. He finally reappeared in March, when photos of him in the Nigerian capital were shared by his official Twitter account.

But his long and unexplained absences (which have come to characterize his presidency since 2015) have only fueled rumors that something is amiss. Rumors that he’s been replaced, or cloned, have been eagerly picked up by people who oppose Buhari and his government.