Vice President Kashim Shettima will not be representing President Bola Tinubu at the 2024 Commonwealth Heads of Government Summit after his trip to Samoa, an island country in Polynesia, was cancelled.
The trip was cancelled after a foreign object hit the vice president’s plane during a stopover at JFK Airport, New York.
The foreign object damaged the cockpit’s windscreen of the plane, Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President, Information and Strategy, said in a statement.
“President Tinubu, acting promptly, has approved a ministerial delegation to represent Nigeria at the summit in 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 Abass Lawal,” said the statement.
The summit, which began on the Pacific island on October 21, will end on October 26.
Shettima and Foreign Affairs Minister, Yusuf Tuggar, have left New York for Nigeria.
