By Gideon Njoku
Nigeria was saved a huge embarrassment or worse, when a jet, in the Presidential Fleet, with Vice President Kashim Shettima on board, successfully made an air return.
VP Shettima was on his way to Dallas, Texas, United States of America, to represent President Bola Tinubu at the high profile 2024 US-Africa Business Summit. Shettima was seen at the Presidential Wing of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport when he was seen off by a number of Government officials. He, thereafter, boarded the aircraft and departed.
However, shock registered on the faces of onlookers when the aircraft made an air-return over what was said to be a “technical fault.”
For precautionary measures, the Vice President cancelled the trip. President Tinubu will now be represented at the Summit by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Yusuf Maitama Tuggar, who arrived Dallas earlier to attend the Summit with the VP and other representatives of the Nigerian Government.
A statement signed by the Media Aide to the Vice President, Stanley Nkwocha confirmed that Tuggar would represent President Tinubu at the Summit.
Nkwocha said the cancellation of the VP’s trip followed “a technical fault with his aircraft, forcing him to make a detour on the advice of Presidential Air Fleet.
On the Summit which the VP would now miss, Nkwocha explained: “The high-profile Summit taking place at the Kay Baily Hutchison Convention Centre, will bring together political and budiness leaders from across Africa, the United States and other regions. It features high level dialogues, networking sessions and plenaries.”
Until the VP’s aborted trip, not a few Nigerians had wondered how both President Bola Tinubu and Vice President Shettima would be out of the Country at the same time
