Vice President Kashim Shettima will no longer represent Nigeria at the 2024 Commonwealth Heads Of Government Summit in Samoa as earlier planned.
The trip was cancelled after “a foreign object hit his plane during a stopover at JFK Airport in New York,” the Presidency revealed in a statement Thursday night.
Therefore, a delegation led by the Environment Minister, Balarabe Lawal, will now represent Nigeria at the biennial event.
The statement signed by Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Bayo Onanuga, is titled ‘Cockpit windscreen of VP Shettima’s plane damaged at JFK airport, ministerial delegation to represent Nigeria at Samoa Commonwealth summit.’
Shettima departed Abuja last Sunday for the gathering at the behest of President Bola Tinubu.
Onanuga said, “Vice President Kashim Shettima’s trip to Samoa to represent Nigeria at the 2024 Commonwealth Heads Of Government Summit has been cancelled after a foreign object hit his plane during a stopover at JFK Airport in New York.
“The foreign object damaged the cockpit windscreen of the plane. President Tinubu, acting promptly, has approved a ministerial delegation to represent Nigeria at the summit in the Samoa capital of Apia while the plane’s repair has commenced.”
The delegation, which will now represent Nigeria at the 2024 Commonwealth Heads Of Government Meeting in Samoa, is being led by the Minister of Environment, Balarabe Lawal.
The summit began on the Pacific island on October 21 and ends on October 26.
Shettima was scheduled to join King Charles of England and other world leaders from 56 member countries at the first CHOGM to be held in the Pacific island of Apia, Samoa, from October 21 to 26.
The theme will focus attention on how member countries can harness their strengths through resilience, unlock potential, leverage the ‘Commonwealth Advantage’, and foster a connected, digital Commonwealth.
At the meeting, Nigeria and other member countries will also elect and appoint the next Commonwealth Secretary-General.
The leaders will deliberate on the theme, ‘One Resilient Common Future: Transforming our Common Wealth.’
However, “Vice President Shettima and foreign minister Yusuf Tuggar have left New York for Nigeria,” Onanuga revealed.
This would not be the first trip Shettima is backing out of.
In May, he was scheduled to represent Tinubu at the US-Africa Business Summit in Dallas, Texas, but returned midflight due to a technical fault with his aircraft.
The Presidency said Shettima heeded the advice of the Presidential Air Fleet to shelve the trip.
Shettima has so far visited Rome, Italy; St. Petersburg, Russia; Johannesburg, South Africa; Havana, Cuba; Beijing, China; Iowa and New York in the United States of America; Davos, Switzerland; Yamoussoukro, Ivory Coast (twice); Nairobi, Kenya and Stockholm, Sweden.
