Real reasons Tinubu’s trip to Plateau ended at Jos airport—Presidency

The Presidency has clarified that President Bola Tinubu’s limited visit to the Jos airport was due to an extended bilateral meeting with the Chadian President and the lack of night-landing navigational aids at the Plateau State runway.

The Presidency has provided a detailed explanation for why President Bola Tinubu did not proceed beyond the Yakubu Gowon Airport during his recent condolence visit to victims of the Jos attacks, attributing the decision to a combination of scheduling conflicts and infrastructure limitations. According to a statement by Special Adviser Bayo Onanuga, the President’s Thursday itinerary was significantly delayed by a high-level bilateral meeting with Chadian President Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno in Abuja, which focused on regional security cooperation. Although Tinubu had originally planned a trip to Iperu, Ogun State, he suspended those plans following a briefing from Governor Caleb Mutfwang, opting instead for a swift redirection to Plateau State to commiserate with the grieving community.

Further complicating the visit were the technical deficiencies at the Plateau State airport, which lacks the necessary navigational aids for night operations. The Presidency noted that while the drive from the airport to the Jos metropolis takes approximately 40 minutes, the late arrival of the presidential jet meant that a trip into the city center would have risked a grounded departure or an unsafe takeoff after dark. Consequently, officials made the strategic decision to relocate the engagement to a hall near the airport precinct. This allowed the President to meet with a high-level delegation—including the Minister of Defence, the Chief of Army Staff, and the Inspector General of Police—who had already conducted on-site assessments at the Rukuba epicenter earlier that day.

During the relocated meeting, President Tinubu interacted directly with community leaders and victims who had been conveyed to the airport to meet the federal delegation. The President utilized the session to listen to the immediate concerns of the survivors and reaffirmed the Federal Government’s commitment to breaking the cycle of communal violence. By deploying a preliminary team of aides to liaise with local stakeholders ahead of his arrival, the administration sought to ensure that the “logistical limitations” did not prevent a substantive exchange of information. The Presidency emphasized that the visit, though geographically constrained, served as a critical step in coordinating the national security apparatus to deliver justice for the residents of Jos North.

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