Vice-President Kashim Shettima has recounted how he was left stunned by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s reaction after some individuals, whom he identified only as his people from Borno State, accused him of a plot to assassinate the President and seize power.
Speaking at the launch of “My Life of Duty and Allegiance,” the autobiography of former Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon, Shettima disclosed that the incident occurred a mere three months into their administration.
According to the Vice-President, the accusers went to President Tinubu with a specific and unusual claim. They did not point to political maneuvering or a coup plot, but to the clothes on the President’s back.
“Three months into our swearing-in, some people told Tinubu I was planning to kill him to take over power,” Shettima said.
But it was the President’s personal response to these allegations that Shettima described as disarming. Rather than act on the suspicion, the President summoned him for a direct conversation.
“The President had called me and said, ‘Sit down! Your people came to me and said stop wearing those Shettima’s clothes,’” Shettima revealed.
He then detailed how President Tinubu systematically dismantled the logic of the alleged plot. Tinubu reportedly told the accusers that their story was incoherent, noting the timing of when the garments were given.
“But the president said their story did not add up. He said when you gave me those clothes, I was an aspirant. I would not have been the candidate, neither were you going to be Vice presidential candidate,” Shettima quoted the President as saying.
The Vice-President further explained that the nature of the allegation was rooted in a superstitious claim that the clothes were fetish items intended to cause harm. “Some people told him after the election that I was planning to use the clothes to kill him and take over,” Shettima stated.
Yet, in a move that Shettima found profoundly moving, the President dismissed the superstition entirely. “However, Tinubu wore the clothes after that because he is not fetish,” Shettima said.
Concluding his remarks, the Vice-President used the episode as a lesson in national unity, advising Nigerians to be better united as their brother’s keeper, not as merchants of divisions.
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