Buhari cancels two-day state visit to Lagos

President Muhammadu Buhari has called off his much publicised two-day state visit to Lagos.

The visit which would have seen the President inaugurating a number of projects would have started on Monday and ended on Tuesday.

The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, confirmed the development to our correspondent on the telephone on Sunday.

Adesina said Buhari would be represented by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo.

He however did not give any reason for the last minute cancellation of Buhari’s trip.

“The truth is that the Vice-President will now represent the President in Lagos. There is nothing wrong if the Vice-President represents the President at functions,” he said.

The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, who also confirmed the development to our correspondent 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.

Our correspondent reported that members of the President’s advanced team consisting of protocol officials, security agents, medical officers and journalists among others were already in Lagos ahead of Buhari when his trip was cancelled.

Some of them arrived Lagos on Thursday while some others joined on Saturday and Sunday.

The Lagos State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Steve Ayorinde, had in a statement on Saturday 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 inaugurate 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.”

He said Buhari would thereafter inaugurate the newly constructed Ago Palace Way in Okota, Isolo after which he will pay homage to the Oba of Lagos,  Oba Rilwanu Akiolu at the Iga Iduganran, Lagos Island.

“The President will later be hosted to a reception by the state government at the Tafawa Balewa Square, Lagos where he will also commission and hand over security equipment and vehicles contributed by the Ambode administration to security agencies to beef up security in the state,” he added.

Since former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s official visit to Lagos in November 2002, no sitting President has officially visited the state.