Former head of State and presidential aspirant of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Gen Muhammadu Buhari was yesterday refused landing permit at the Makurdi Airport and his planned visit to Benue State cancelled.
Buhari was visiting the state to engage opposition stakeholders, delegates and party supporters ahead of the party’s primaries.
Yesterday, the Makurdi Airport situated in the NAF Base, located along Makurdi-Gboko expressway was crowded by ardent APC supporters who converged at the place to welcome the presidential aspirant. They had arrived the airport as early as 8.am.
Strangely, after waiting at the airport for several hours, some of the APC officials suddenly informed the supporters that Buhari will no longer visit the state. They claimed that the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) had ordered that the flight conveying the opposition leader should not be granted landing permit.
The opposition chieftains and supporters who thronged the airport in their hundreds were disappointed. They angrily dispersed from the place as soon as they heard the news, wearing long faces.
It was alleged that the denial of the landing right as directed by FAAN officials was induced by the ruling PDP and that the action was carried out to prevent him (Buhari) from discussing with Chief Samuel Ortom, who is preparing to dump the PDP. Effort to contact FAAN and PDP officials proved abortive at the time of filing this report.
However, the state chairman of APC, Comrade Abba Yaro who spoke to newsmen yesterday confirmed the situation. He said “Our presidential aspirant, Buhari was to visit the state to discuss with delegates and party supporters ahead of the primaries. He actually left Bayelsa for Benue and don’t forget, he was initially granted landing by the airport authorities in the morning, just for them to suddenly deny his flight to land when the supporters were already waiting to receive him.”
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