For the second time since Friday, the office of the Acting President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo said the rescheduled visit to Ondo State was cancelled on Monday, owing to bad weather conditions.
The visit was initially slated for last Friday, before it was rescheduled for Monday, February 20, 2017.
In a tweet, Laolu Akande, spokesman to the Vice President, who has acted for President Muhammadu Buhari since January 19, when the former travelled to the United Kingdom for medical help, wrote: “Weather conditions again prevent Ag. President Yemi Osinbajo’s scheduled visit to Akure today. Sincere apologies to the government and people of Ondo State.”
Osinbajo was to perform the inauguration of some projects including the International Event Centre, also known as the Dome, executed by out-going Governor Olusegun Mimiko.
In a statement issued in Abuja on Friday, Akande said the trip was part of his (Osinbajo) tour of the oil-producing communities, after earlier visiting other oil producing states like Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers and Imo states.
He said that Osinbajo was already air-borne when weather reports indicated dusty haze and very poor visibility at the Akure Airport and other alternative airports nearby, following which “the presidential jet therefore had to return to Abuja following which the weather condition was closely monitored until about 2:30 p.m, when it became abundantly clear that the situation would not change in time for the Acting President to achieve the purposes of the visit.
“The visit has therefore been rescheduled for Monday, Feb. 20, 2017,” he added and that already the Presidency had extended “apologies to the state governor, the governor-elect, traditional rulers and the generality of the people of the state who had been awaiting the Acting President’s visit.”