Vice President Kashim Shettima has revealed that some individuals from Borno State once warned President Bola Ahmed Tinubu against wearing traditional outfits gifted to him, alleging the clothes had been spiritually manipulated and could lead to his death.

Shettima made the disclosure on Tuesday during the public presentation of My Life of Duty and Allegiance, the autobiography of former Head of State Yakubu Gowon, where he represented the President.

According to the Vice President, the claims surfaced barely three months after Tinubu assumed office, but the President dismissed the allegations and deliberately continued wearing the outfits to prove there was no truth to the rumours.

“Sit down. Your people came to me and said I should stop wearing those dresses you gave me. They said I must have been charmed, and that I am going to die and he will become the president,” Shettima recalled Tinubu telling him.

He said the incident reflected growing distrust within Nigeria’s political environment, contrasting it with the era of goodwill and confidence associated with Gowon’s leadership.

Shettima recalled that Gowon once received gallons of fura weekly from the Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar without suspicion, stressing that mutual trust previously played a key role in governance and national unity.

The Vice President also disclosed that he personally sourced the traditional Borno attire for Tinubu during the 2023 presidential campaign to help the then-candidate connect more with northern voters.

He explained that although the outfits were widely admired during the campaign, some individuals later raised concerns after Tinubu became President  allegations Tinubu reportedly dismissed as unreasonable since the clothes were gifted before he assumed office.

“For one week, to prove to them that he is not fetish, he wore those dresses. These are some of the gimmicks that are taking place in power circles in Nigeria nowadays,” Shettima said.

In his remarks at the event, the Vice President praised Gowon’s contributions to national unity, highlighting the creation of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), his role in the formation of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), and his reconciliation efforts after the Nigerian civil war.

He also urged Nigerians to resist divisive tendencies threatening national cohesion, ending his speech with a quote from civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.:

“Let us learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.”

The event was attended by several prominent figures, including former President Goodluck Jonathan, Senate President Godswill Akpabio, the Sultan of Sokoto, and senior retired military officers.