I Never Knew My Real Age Until I Was Told - Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari, on Monday, stirred up a fresh controversy over his real age when he said he thought he was 74 but was told he was 75.

He said this in Abuja on Monday when the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Muhammed Bello, led a delegation to pay him Christmas homage at the Presidential Villa. Recalling his health challenges, the president said he recovered since he followed his doctor’s advice.

He said they told him to be eating well and take enough sleep.“I am very grateful (to you) for taking time out on a very important day to come out and spend it with us,” Buhari said.“It has been a tumultuous year. I am thinking I am 75. I thought I was 74 but I was told I was 75.

"I have never been so sick, not even during the 30-month civil war that I was stumbling under farm of yams or cassava.”“But this sickness. I don’t know, but I came out better. All those who saw me before said I look much better when I came back.

"But I have explained it to the public that as a General, I used to give orders. But now, I take orders. "The doctors told me to feed my stomach and sleep for longer hours. That is why I am looking much better.”