Vice President Kashim Shettima’s planned trip to Samoa for the 2024 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) has been canceled after his plane sustained damage during a stopover at JFK Airport in New York.
According to Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, a foreign object struck and damaged the aircraft’s cockpit windshield, rendering it unfit for immediate travel.
In response, President Bola Tinubu quickly appointed a ministerial delegation, led by Environment Minister Balarabe Abass Lawal, to represent Nigeria at CHOGM, which is currently taking place in Apia, Samoa, from October 21 to 26.
Meanwhile, repair work on the Vice President’s plane is underway, and both Shettima and Foreign Affairs Minister Yusuf Tuggar have departed New York, returning to Nigeria.
