Vice President Kashim Shettima’s planned trip to Samoa for the 2024 Commonwealth Heads of Government Summit was canceled after a foreign object struck his plane’s cockpit windscreen during a stop at JFK Airport in New York.

According to a statement from Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, the damage necessitated the plane’s repair, prompting President Tinubu to swiftly assign a ministerial delegation to represent Nigeria in Samoa.

The delegation, led by Minister of Environment Balarabe Abass Lawal, is now attending the summit, which began on October 21 and concludes on October 26. Vice President Shettima and Foreign Minister Yusuf Tuggar have since returned to Nigeria.