VP Shettima Cancels Trip to Commonwealth Summit in Samoa Following Airport Incident

Vice President Kashim Shettima’s trip to represent Nigeria at the 2024 Commonwealth Heads of Government Summit in Samoa has been cancelled.

The Presidency, in a statement on Thursday night, said the trip was cancelled after “a foreign object hit his plane during a stopover at JFK Airport in New York.”

In his stead, President Bola Tinubu has approved a ministerial delegation to represent Nigeria at the summit in Apia, Samoa, led by Minister of Environment, Balarabe Lawal. The delegation will join King Charles of England and other world leaders from 56 member countries to deliberate on the theme, ‘One Resilient Common Future: Transforming our Common Wealth’.

“Vice President Shettima and foreign minister Yusuf Tuggar have left New York for Nigeria,” Presidential spokesperson Bayo Onanuga revealed.

Recall that Shettima left Nigeria for Samoa on Sunday.

This is not the first time Vice President Shettima has cancelled a trip midway. In May, he was scheduled to represent President Tinubu at the US-Africa Business Summit in Dallas, Texas, but returned midflight due to a technical fault with his aircraft.