Buhari cancels trip to Lagos, VP Osinbajo to take his place

Monday, 23 May 2016

 President Muhammadu Buhari calls off his two-day trip to Lagos

– Presidency reveals that VP Osinbajo will replace Buhari

– Garba Shehu says Buhari would still embark on the visit after Ramadan The over 14-years non-visit of a sitting president to Lagos state will unfortunately stretch a little longer.

This follows report that President Muhammadu Buhari’s two-day working visit to Lagos state, set to begin tomorrow, May 23, has been cancelled.

Sahara Reporters is reporting that President Buhari cancelled his trip to Lagos due to an ear infection he recently contracted.

However, when NAIJ.com contacted Garba Shehu, the senior special assistant, media and publicity, he confirmed that President Buhari will no longer be available for the two-day visit but he will be represented by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.

He said: “The president will not be able to make it to Lagos for a two-day working visit due to other busy schedule. He will however be represented by Vice president Yemi Osinbajo.” He declined to speak further on what prompted the late change. However, The Punch reports that Garba Shehu had said Osinbajo would only inaugurate a few of the projects earmarked for inauguration by the president.

Shehu said Buhari would still embark on the visit after Ramadan. “The vice president will only inaugurate some of the projects. The President will still embark on the trip after Ramadan to inaugurate the remaining projects,” he said. This year’s Ramadan is due to start in June 6 and would not end until July 5.

Shehu said a similar trip to Edo state had been previously canceled by the president, but that he will still attend that as well in due course. “He needs more time for Lagos and for Edo which had earlier been stepped down. As a result of this, the visit has been scaled down and he is being represented by H.E. the VP, who is going to Lagos to commission a few projects, leaving the rest for Mr. President.

“The president will undertake these visits after the Ramadan,” Shehu said. Steve Ayorinde, the Lagos state commissioner for Information and Strategy, had in a statement on Saturday, May 21, said Buhari would inaugurate some landmark projects executed by Governor Akinwunmi Ambode during his visit.

Ayorinde said  Buhari’s official visit “is the first time in about 15 years that a sitting president will be visiting the state on a working visit,” describing it as a testimony to the landmark achievements in the last one year of Ambode as well as the good working relationship between Lagos state and the federal government.

According to him, the President would have during the visit “inaugurated the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency Rescue Unit in Cappa Oshodi built by the state government to ensure prompt and swift response to emergency situations in the state.”

Naij.com