BY ABDALLAH EL-KUREBE

Sokoto -The Nigerian Air Force plane, registration number 5N-FGU, which brought  First Lady, Dame Patience Goodluck Jonathan, to Sokoto, yesterday, delayed her departure out of the Sultan Abubakar III International Airport for over two hours for an undisclosed technical fault.

The First Lady, who was on a private visit to Sokoto in company of the wife of the vice President Namadi Sambo, Hajiya Amina Namadi Sambo and PDP Women Leader, Hajiya Inna Adamu Ciroma, arrived the Airport at about 2pm and boarded the plane, but could not take off due to the fault.

Efforts by Vanguard to get more information about the fault from the Special Adviser to President Jonathan on Aviation, Alhaji Shehu Iyal, proved abortive.

Alhaji Shehu Iyal simply responded “What you have seen is what you have seen. There is no cause for alarm.”

However, an alternative plane with registration number 5N-FGE was brought to the Airport at 16.23pm, nearly two and a half hours after the first lady was scheduled to depart.

The First Lady boarded the plane at 16.34pm and the took off at 16.40pm.

Mrs. Jonathan was in Sokoto for a private visit to the Sultan, Alhaji Saad Abubakar.