Comfort Emmanson, the passenger accused of assaulting airline officials on an Ibom Air flight from Uyo to Lagos, has been remanded at the Kirikiri Correctional Facility in Lagos State.
PREMIUM TIMES earlier reported that Ms Emmanson allegedly attacked a flight attendant and clashed with security operatives at the airport.
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Tunde Moshood, special adviser on media and communications to the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, disclosed the development in a statement posted on his X page on Monday.
According to Mr Moshood, Ms Emmanson was charged in court with the incident and remanded in custody.
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“The more reason the flying public should be more careful, the unruly passenger on Uyo-Lagos bound Ibom Air, Miss Comfort Emmanson, has been charged to court and she’s now cooling off in Kirikiri”, he wrote.
NCAA
The newspaper reported that the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) spokesperson, Michael Achimugu, attributed the incident to the passenger’s refusal to follow the crew’s instructions.
Mr Achimugu stressed that compliance is essential when cabin crew instruct passengers to switch off their mobile phones before take-off or landing.
He urged passengers to take such directives seriously, particularly routine safety measures such as turning off mobile devices during critical flight phases.
“I can’t understand why simple routine issues would lead to incidents like this. Passengers need to understand they have responsibilities, not just rights. More details will be addressed tomorrow,” Mr Achimugu wrote in a response to the incident on a tweet on X on Sunday
Ibom Air
However, on its Facebook page, Ibom Air attributed the incident to an unruly passenger’s actions.
According to the airline, the passenger’s behaviour posed a serious security risk to the safety of the crew, fellow passengers, and the aircraft.
The statement explained that, before take-off from Uyo, Ms Emmanson was instructed to switch off her mobile phone by standard aviation safety procedures.
However, she allegedly refused to comply until the Pilot-in-Command made an announcement, after which a fellow passenger seated beside her took the device and switched it off.
Ibom Air stated that this prompted a verbal outburst from Ms Emmanson, although the situation was eventually controlled and the flight departed as scheduled.
The airline further reported that, upon arrival in Lagos, Ms Emmanson waited for all other passengers to disembark before confronting the Purser who had earlier instructed her.
It is alleged that she approached the unsuspecting crew member, stepped on her foot, forcibly removed her wig and glasses, threw them to the floor, and struck her with her footwear.
She then allegedly slapped the Purser several times. When another cabin crew member attempted to intervene, she slapped her.
“She then attempted to forcibly remove a fire extinguisher to use as a weapon, an act that could have damaged and grounded the aircraft”, the airline noted.
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