VP Shettima pulls out of Commonwealth Summit after ‘foreign object’ strikes his plane in the U.S.

Vice-President Kashim Shettima has aborted his trip to the 2024 Commonwealth Heads of Government Summit in Samoa.

President Bola Tinubu had delegated Nigeria’s number two man to represent the country at the ongoing summit. But in a statement on Thursday night, the presidency announced that Shettima’s trip had been cancelled, explaining that 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,” Bayo Onanuga said in a statement, disclosing that a ministerial delegation would now represent Nigeria. President Tinubu, acting promptly, has approved a ministerial delegation to represent Nigeria at the summit in the 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 (CHOGM) in Samoa, is being led by the Minister of Environment, Balarabe Abass Lawal. The summit began on the Pacific island on 21 October. It will end on 26 October. Vice President Shettima and foreign minister Yusuf Tuggar have left New York for Nigeria.”