Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Senate President Ahmad Lawan, House of Representatives Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila and some governors were among those stopped on Monday by weather from making it to Kano State for the 12th edition of the Bola Tinubu Colloquium.
Also stopped in Abuja en route Kano venue of the yearly event, were governors Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti), Babajide Sanwo-Olu (Lagos); Gboyega Oyetola (Osun), Dapo Abiodun (Ogun) and former Borno State Governor Kashim Shettima.
Kwara State Governor Abdulrahman AbdulRazaq could not attend the event because of the bad weather, celebrator Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu told audience while making his remarks.
Oyetola and Sanwo-Olu, who boarded a Lagos-Kano bound flight, could not land in Kano as the flight was diverted to Abuja.
Their Ogun counterpart and Fayemi later landed at the Abuja airport.
In his remarks made virtually from the State House in Abuja, Prof Osinbajo said he could not make the trip to Kano because of the weather.
The governors, whose flight were already at the airport to connect a flight to Kano, sat at the lounge of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja, to attend the Colloquium virtually.
An official of the Nigeria Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) told The Nation last night that adverse was behind the diversion of flights from the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport (MAKIA), Kano and the Kaduna International Airport, Kaduna into NAIA.
The NAMA source said the prevailing meteorological condition fell below the weather prescription for the airports.
The source said the flights had to be diverted because it was not safe to initiate any landing or take off of any aircraft when the weather is below the internationally prescribed minima.
In aviation par lance, weather minima are the conducive meteorological conditions safe for flight operations in any aerodrome.
The source said: “There was nothing unusual about flights into Kano Airport on Monday. The authorities gave instructions for flight diversion when the prevailing weather condition was below the standard approved for any flights at such airports.
“Not only Kano Airport was affected; flights into Kaduna Airport were also diverted on account of adverse weather.” – The Nation.
