Why Buhari Cancelled Bauchi Trip – Presidency

The Presidency on Thursday said President Muhammadu Buhari’s visit to Bauchi slated for December 29 has been postponed due to prevailing poor weather conditions in the country.

The President had on December 12 cancelled an earlier scheduled trip to Bauchi and travelled with other West African leaders to The Gambia to resolve the country political crisis.

A statement issued by the President’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, on Thursday said: “Uncooperative weather which has been the bane of air travel in the current harmattan season, leading to the delay and cancellation of flights, reared its head in Abuja Airport this morning, preventing the take-off of the President’s plane to Bauchi.

“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.“The Commander of the Presidential Air Fleet, Air Commodore Hassan Abubakar, said the Presidential Aircraft was in perfect condition. The weather in Bauchi was alright, but that the problem was in Abuja.”

He said President Buhari expressed regret over the disruption caused by the bad weather and cancellation of the trip.

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