Nigeria’s Vice President, Kashim Shettima, has called off his planned attendance at the 2024 Commonwealth Heads of Government Summit in Samoa.
In a statement issued Thursday evening, the Presidency announced that “a foreign object struck his aircraft during a stopover at JFK Airport in New York.”
The announcement, signed by Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to President Tinubu, clarified that Shettima had departed from Abuja on Sunday with the intention of representing President Bola Tinubu at the summit.
“Vice President Kashim Shettima’s trip to Samoa has been cancelled following an incident where a foreign object impacted his plane’s cockpit windscreen while at JFK Airport,” the statement detailed.
“President Tinubu has swiftly approved a ministerial delegation to take Nigeria’s place at the summit in Apia, Samoa, as repairs on the aircraft have begun,” it continued.
The summit is scheduled to take place from October 21 to October 26, and as a result, will now see a different Nigerian delegation headed by Environment Minister Balarabe Lawal.
