TheCable

The presidency on Thursday said President Muhammadu Buhari’s visit to Bauchi state, scheduled for December 29, had been postponed due to prevailing weather conditions in the country.

Garba Shehu, senior special assistant to the president on media and publicity, disclosed this in a statement.

According to Shehu, the bad weather conditions experienced at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, on Thursday morning prevented the take-off of the president’s plane.

“Uncooperative weather, which has been the bane of air travel in the current harmattan season leading to delay and cancellation of flights, reared its head in Abuja Airport this morning, preventing the take-off of the president’s plane for the trip to Bauchi,” he said.

“Technical information received from the weather station showed that visibility as at this morning was 600 meters, 200 metres short of the 800 metres minimally required for a safe aircraft take-off.

“According to the information available, the visibility was expected to drop to 300 metres before improving to permissible limit later in the day.

“The commander of the presidential air fleet, Air Commodore Hassan Abubakar, said that the presidential aircraft was in perfect condition, the weather in Bauchi was alright, but that the problem was in Abuja.”

Buhari was quoted as expressing regret over the disruption caused by the bad weather.

In a recorded audio and video message, Buhari said he looked forward to the visit in the course of which he was to commission an air force medical facility and a number of other projects by the state government.

He said he also intended to thank the people for their relentless support in all his political undertakings.

The Bauchi trip was initially postponed on December 13 due to Buhari’s visit to Gambia aimed to settle the political stalemate arising from President Yahya Jammeh’s refusal to accept the result of the last election in his country.