Vice President Kashim Shettima has said that a few months after the 2023 inauguration, some people tried to create friction between him and President Bola Tinubu by claiming the traditional attire he gave Tinubu during the campaign was charmed.
Speaking in Abuja on Tuesday at the public presentation of former military head of state Yakubu Gowon’s autobiography, Shettima explained that the group alleged the garments were laced with charms meant to harm the president.
He said that while campaigning for Tinubu to become the APC candidate, they traveled across the North and he provided materials and caps so Tinubu could blend with the crowd. The president’s aides approved of them and asked for more.
“Barely three months when we were sworn into office, some of my people from Borno came to him and said, ‘stop wearing those Shettima clothings. He must have charmed them. And you’re going to die. And he will become the president.’”
Shettima said Tinubu told him about it after he returned from China, where he had represented the president.
“And to the eternal credit of the president. When I came back from China, where I represented him, he said, ‘sit down. your people came to me and said I should stop wearing those garments you gave me.’”
The president dismissed the claim, noting that the clothes were given while he was still an aspirant.
“But he said their story did not add up because when you gave those garments, I was an aspirant.
“For one week to prove to them that he is not fetish, he wore those garments. These are some of the gimmicks that are taking place in power circles in Nigeria nowadays.”
Shettima contrasted this with the trust that existed during Gowon’s time as military ruler. He said the Sultan of Sokoto’s family would send gallons of fura weekly to Dodan Barracks in Lagos, and Gowon accepted them without suspicion.
“Here was a Christian son of the north, a child of the north-central, a soldier accepted across lines that others try to harden into walls in Nigeria,” Shettima said of Gowon.
“His life proved that identity can be carried without hostility. History teaches us that the Nigerian project becomes stronger whenever citizens refuse to become weapons in the hands of sectarianism and division.”
He also highlighted Gowon’s role in creating ECOWAS as an example of regional foresight.
“As one of the builders of regional cooperation in Africa, the formation of the Economic Community of West African States remains one of the great acts of political foresight on the continent,” he said.
“It was born out of the understanding that neighbouring nations must do more than exchange flags at ceremonies. They must pursue ideas of security cooperation, diplomatic confidence, and economic opportunity.
“In that vision, General Gowon saw Africa as a community of shared burdens and shared possibilities. That vision remains even more urgent today. The challenges confronting West
“Africa may have changed in form, but their underlying demands remain familiar. We need cooperation against insecurity.
“We need faith that empowers young people. We need diplomacy that prevents conflict from becoming a contagion. We need a region where borders do not become barriers to prosperity.”
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