Vice-President Kashim Shettima says some individuals tried to sow distrust between him and President Bola Tinubu just three months after their inauguration, even alleging that he would kill the president and take over power.
Speaking in Abuja on Tuesday at the public presentation of the autobiography of former military head of state Yakubu Gowon, Shettima said the individuals also warned Tinubu against wearing traditional outfits he had given him during the 2023 campaign, claiming they were spiritually manipulated.
“When we were campaigning for him to emerge as the candidate of the APC, we were going round the north. So, I got some materials and caps for him to blend with the northern crowd. It fitted him very well. So his aides said, ‘produce more, it fitted him,” Shettima said.
“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.’
“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.’
“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.”
He added that there was greater trust during the era of former military head of state Yakubu Gowon, noting that even the family of the Sultan of Sokoto used to send “gallons of fura” weekly to Dodan Barracks 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 further praised Gowon’s contributions to regional integration, saying his role in the formation of the Economic Community of West African States remains a landmark achievement.
“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.”