Nigeria’s Vice President, Kashim Shettima, will no longer attend the 2024 Commonwealth Heads of Government Summit following an incident involving his aircraft. A statement released by the Presidential Media Aide, Bayo Onanuga, confirmed that the cockpit windscreen of Shettima’s plane was shattered by a foreign object during a stopover at JFK Airport in New York.
The official statement read: “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.”
In response to the incident, President Tinubu has promptly approved a ministerial delegation to represent Nigeria at the summit in Apia, the capital of Samoa. The delegation will be led by the Minister of Environment, Balarabe Abass Lawal.
The Commonwealth Summit, which began on October 21, is set to conclude on October 26. Following the incident, Vice President Shettima and Foreign Minister Yusuf Tuggar have returned to Nigeria.
