Shettima Reveals Allegations He Planned To Kill Tinubu To Become President

Vice President Kashim Shettima has revealed that some individuals accused him of plotting to assassinate President Bola Tinubu through traditional outfits he gifted him during the 2023 election campaign.

Shettima disclosed this on Tuesday in Abuja while speaking at the public presentation of the autobiography of former Head of State, Yakubu Gowon, titled My Life of Duty and Allegiance.

According to the Vice President, the allegation emerged barely three months after Tinubu assumed office in 2023, when some people from Borno State reportedly visited the President and advised him to stop wearing the Borno-style clothes and caps Shettima had given him.

“When we were campaigning for him to emerge as the aspirant of the APC, we were going around the North. We, the people of Borno, unlike the people of Sokoto, are the best-dressed Northerners,” Shettima said.

“So I got some materials and caps for him to blend with the northern crowd. It fitted him very well, and his aides said, ‘Please, produce more.’”

He said some individuals later told Tinubu that the outfits might have been spiritually manipulated to harm him and pave the way for Shettima to become President.

“Barely three months, he was sworn into office. Some of my people from Borno came to him and said, please, stop wearing those Shettima clothing. He must have charmed them, and you are going to die, and he will become the President,” he recounted.

Shettima further revealed that after returning from China, where he represented Tinubu at the Belt and Road Initiative Forum, the President personally informed him about the allegation.

According to him, Tinubu dismissed the claim because the outfits were given during the APC presidential primary campaign before both men officially emerged as presidential candidate and running mate.

“To the eternal credit of the President, when I came back from China, he said, ‘Sit down. Your people came to me and said I should stop wearing those dresses you gave me,’” Shettima stated.

The Vice President said Tinubu deliberately continued wearing the outfits for an entire week to demonstrate his rejection of the allegation.

Shettima used the incident to criticise what he described as a growing culture of suspicion within Nigeria’s political environment.

“Suspicion smears our relationships, and it ought not to be. We are essentially one people tied to a common destiny,” he said.

He also praised Gowon’s leadership style and cited the establishment of the National Youth Service Corps as one of the enduring legacies of the former military leader.