The Presidency on Sunday further clarified why President Muhammadu Buhari canceled his trip to Zamfara State, last Thursday.
A statement by spokesman, Garba Shehu, recalled that the President, in a special broadcast, cited sudden deterioration of the weather as the reason.
Shehu noted that it is not unusual for flights to get cancelled when there is bad weather was the case.
He said many cities are known to suffer from low visibility during the harmattan season.
“A kilometre 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 meter was down, fluctuating between 300-400 meters”, he explained.
The presidency said the situation was unsafe in the absence of precise instrument approaches that provide guidance for the pilots.
He lambasted the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for saying Buhari failed to use Sokoto-Gusau by road, “a distance of about 200 kilometres”, due to insecurity.
“The party 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. Whatever be the case, there must be a limit to trivialization”, the statement read.
It added that all over the world, Commanders-in-Chief, serving or those that have left office, “cannot hop into a car and go anywhere they want, at any time of the day”.
Shehu said when roads are closed for presidential movements, consideration is also given to the safety of other road users, not just that of the President or Governor.
“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. What is their own record?
“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.”
He told Zamfara political actors, who claim the cancellation was a victory for their faction of the APC using songs and videos, to know that their joy is a short lived one.
The presidential aide reiterated that as promised in his address, Buhari will visit Gusau in matter of time.
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