Nigerian activist and human rights lawyer Deji Adeyanju has opened up on what he claims was the real reason behind the late President Muhammadu Buhari’s intense dislike for Nnamdi Kanu, the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
In a post shared via X (formerly Twitter), Adeyanju stated that Buhari was deeply angered by Kanu’s popular conspiracy theory, which claimed that the real Buhari had died during a medical trip to London in 2017 and was replaced by an impostor named “Jubril from Sudan.”
“Nothing annoyed the late Buhari more than that rumour started by Nnamdi Kanu that he was already dead,” Adeyanju wrote.
“That was the reason they went all out to hunt him down in Kenya and practically abducted him unconstitutionally.”
The lawyer further reflected on his own persecution during the Buhari administration, noting:
“I was arrested 11 times, imprisoned thrice, and almost killed in the street under Buhari. But it’s nothing personal — just an ideological thing.”
Adeyanju concluded his remarks with a conciliatory tone, praying for Buhari’s soul and comfort for his family:
“May his soul truly rest in peace in Jesus’ mighty name. And may God comfort his family.”
Background
In 2017, President Buhari spent over five months in London receiving treatment for a then-undisclosed illness. During his absence, Nnamdi Kanu and some of his followers propagated a theory that Buhari had died and was replaced by a body double from Sudan.
When Buhari returned in 2018, he publicly refuted the rumor, insisting that he was “real” and not Jubril.
The arrest and extraordinary rendition of Nnamdi Kanu from Kenya in 2021 by Nigerian security forces was widely condemned and believed by some observers to be partly motivated by personal vendetta, fueled by the controversial impersonation theory.
Buhari passed away in London on Sunday, July 13, 2025, at the age of 82.
