The Presidency has given further clarification on the circumstances of bad weather which forced the cancellation of the visit to Zamfara State on Thursday of President Muhammadu Buhari in spite of the great interest generated nationwide on the planned visit.
In a statement signed by Senior Special Assistant to the President,Media & Publicity Garba Shehu, as briefly explained by the President in a special broadcast to the people of the state, the sudden deterioration of the weather was the sole and only reason for the cancellation of the visit.
A kilometer of visibility is usually a standard landing minimum requirement but in the case of Gusau on the day in question, this minimum requirement of 1,000 meters was down, fluctuating between 300-400 meters. Clearly, this was unsafe in the absence of precise instrument approaches that provide guidance for the pilots. The flights into Gusau were, in view of this, cancelled.
Criticism of the President, in particular the one by the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, for not proceeding with the journey, Sokoto-Gusau by road, a distance of about 200 kilometer shows, either a lack of understanding of presidential movements especially for a party that held that office for sixteen years, or an act that smacks of mischief.
The statement on the issue by the PDP attacking the President for not making it to Gusau without this being planned ahead of the journey is shameful and disgraceful for a party that held the presidency of the country in the past.
It is sad for the country that the bankruptcy of issues has forced the PDP, so-called leading opposition party, to hang on to life by only telling lies. And their caravan of falsehood has moved even more speedily following the inauguration of their not-so-new national executive at the end of last year.
The statement further says that It is equally important that local political actors who have seized upon the cancellation of the visit to describe it as a victory for this or that faction of the party, accompanied by songs, lyrics and videos to know that their joy is a short lived one. As he promised in that broadcast, the visit to Gusau by the President is only a matter of time.
Given the right conditions of the weather and all other things, the president will return, and in time to accomplish his mission it added
