Vice President Kashim Shettima has disclosed that some individuals from Borno State allegedly warned President Bola Tinubu against wearing traditional outfits he gifted him during the 2023 presidential campaign, claiming the clothes were spiritually manipulated and could lead to his death.
Shettima made the revelation on Tuesday during the public presentation of former Head of State Yakubu Gowon’s autobiography, My Life of Duty and Allegiance, held in Abuja.
According to the vice president, the incident occurred shortly after the inauguration of the Tinubu administration in 2023.
He explained that he had traveled to Beijing, China, in October 2023 to represent Tinubu at the 3rd Belt and Road Initiative Forum held between October 16 and 18.
Speaking at the event, Shettima recalled that upon his return from China, Tinubu informed him that some visitors had advised him to stop wearing the traditional Borno garments supplied by the vice president during the campaign period.
“When I returned from China, where I represented him at the Belt and Road Initiative Conference, he said, ‘Sit down. Your people came to me and said I should stop wearing those dresses you gave me. They claimed I had been charmed and that I was going to die so he could become president,’” Shettima recounted.
He said Tinubu dismissed the claims, insisting the allegation was illogical because both of them were merely presidential aspirants at the time the clothes were given.
According to Shettima, Tinubu responded, “Their story did not add up because when you gave me those dresses, I was an aspirant. I was not even the candidate, and neither were you the vice-presidential candidate.”
The vice president added that Tinubu deliberately continued wearing the outfits for a week to prove he was not influenced by superstition.
“For one week, to prove to them that he is not a fetish, he wore those dresses,” Shettima said.
He noted that the episode highlighted what he described as increasing suspicion within Nigeria’s political environment.
Shettima contrasted the situation with an earlier account by the Sultan of Sokoto, who recalled how Gowon regularly received gallons of fura from the Sultan’s family in Sokoto while serving as Head of State at Dodan Barracks in Lagos without suspicion.
“Suspicion smears our relationships, and it ought not to be. We are essentially one people tied to a common destiny,” Shettima stated.
