Nigeria’s presidency has moved to justify why President Bola Tinubu held a critical meeting with victims of a recent massacre at a regional airport rather than visiting the scene of the attack, citing a “logistical race against time.”

The president arrived in the central city of Jos on Thursday to com#jos

miserate with families following the Sunday night slaughter of at least 28 people in the Angwan Rukuba area. However, the decision to host the engagement in a hall adjoining the Yakubu Gowon Airport—roughly 40 minutes from the city centre—drew sharp criticism from some observers who labeled the visit “symbolic but detached.”

In a clarifying statement, the Presidency explained that the visit was nearly abandoned due to a high-stakes security meeting with Chadian President Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno in Abuja, which ran over schedule.

The ‘Dusk’ Deadline

The State House revealed that the primary obstacle was the airport’s infrastructure. The runway in Jos currently lacks the navigational aids required for night flights, meaning the presidential jet had to depart before sunset.

“The constraints made it unfeasible to drive into town, meet victims for an on-the-spot assessment, and return to the airport before dusk,” said Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President. To ensure the meeting happened at all, representatives of the affected communities were brought to the airport to meet the President, the Minister of Defence, and the Chief of Army Staff.

High-Tech ‘War on Terror’

During the solemn meeting, President Tinubu unveiled a new technological offensive against the communal violence that has plagued Plateau State for decades:

• AI Surveillance: The immediate deployment of 5,000 artificial intelligence-enabled cameras to monitor Jos and identify “troublemakers.”
• Direct Justice: A promise to hunt down the killers rather than merely “creating more widows and widowers” through endless cycles of consolation.
• Community Policing: The recruitment of 1,000 forest guards to bolster local security.

Analysis: Peace by ‘Invitation’

President Tinubu’s message to the people of Plateau was clear: “Sustainable peace must be built with the people, not imposed on them.” By inviting local leaders to Abuja for further talks, the President is attempting to move the conflict from the “trenches” to the negotiating table.

However, the “airport diplomacy” seen this week highlights a recurring theme in Nigerian governance: the struggle to balance elite diplomatic schedules with the urgent, gritty reality of local insecurity. While the 5,000 AI cameras represent a modern leap in policing, the fact that a major state capital’s airport cannot support a night flight serves as a stark reminder of the basic infrastructure gaps still facing Africa’s largest economy.

For the residents of Angwan Rukuba, the success of the visit will not be measured by the President’s location, but by whether the “AI-enabled” cameras and the promised justice actually arrive before the next sunset.