An Air Peace pilot, David Bernard, and a cabin crew member, Maduneme Victory, have rejected the report by the Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB) which claimed that they tested positive for alcohol and a hard drug, cannabis.
During an interview on Arise Television on Friday, the Air Peace officials accused the NSIB of conducting questionable tests at an unregistered centre to smear the image of the airline.
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The NSIB report
The NSIB had launched a probe into the 13 July 2025 incident in which an aircraft belonging to Air Peace veered off the runway after landing at the Port Harcourt International Airport, Rivers State.
PREMIUM TIMES reported that in a preliminary report released on Friday, the NSIB said toxicology tests confirmed the presence of intoxicants in the captain and first officer who flew the Boeing 737 with 103 people on board.
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The aircraft, with registration 5N-BQQ, was flying a scheduled Lagos–Port Harcourt service when it landed long on Runway 21.
Air Peace, Nigeria’s largest airline, operates domestic and international flights across Africa and to destinations such as London, Saudi Arabia, Dakar, Freetown, Monrovia, and Ghana.
Reacting to NSIB’s findings on Friday, Air Peace said in a statement that it does not tolerate alcohol and drug use, adding that it conducts frequent tests on crew members.
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‘Unrecognised hospital for tests’
Dismissing the report, the airline pilot, Mr Bernard, said he does not take alcohol or drugs, and to be tested for it, a breathalyser would have been more practical.
“When you blow your breath into the breathalyser, it checks the amount of alcohol in your system,” Mr Bernard explained.
“But these guys at the Port Harcourt airport took our blood samples and urine on the 13th, and came back on the 23rd of July for the result.
“I mean, how long does it take for a result to be out? A blood test doesn’t even make sense, we’re in 2025.”
Mr Bernard said that after paying a lot of money for flying school, it is unfair to damage someone’s reputation by accusing them without evidence, especially when tests are sent to hospitals not recognised by aviation authorities.
“A smear campaign”
Ms Maduneme said that NSIB investigators took her blood and urine samples after the incident, but only released the test results 10 days later.
She said that after being called by the NCAA to collect a letter, she was in “utter shock” to see her test results upon opening it in Lagos, and subsequently visited the doctor.
The cabin crew member said that while she responded to their letter the next day, nearly three weeks later, another letter was given to her requiring a “re-confirmatory” test, which she agreed to undergo.
“They sent me to go and meet a doctor Adetunji of Kupa Aerospace Clinic, which is the licensed clinic for this kind of test,” she said.
“When I went to meet the doctor, he saw me and asked about marijuana — (It) usually stays in the system for 90 days — that if I have something like this. He’s advising me to go back and come later when I feel like everything has cleared from my system.”
“I said no, if I go now and come back later, it proves I have the drugs in my system. I insisted that I want to do the test, which was done to me, and everything came out negative.
“There’s a question I need to ask NSIB: if marijuana was found in my system, were they not supposed to tell this to my airline, and they’re supposed to stop me from flying.
“Because then I am a risk to passengers on board, and my license would have been taken away from me, but no, they didn’t inform them of this until after two months. Now, it’s just coming out, and they’re spoiling the image of the airline.
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“I sent a copy of my result to you; everything was clear. If marijuana was supposed to stay in the system for 90 days, I did my test in a month, and nothing was found in my system.
“If NSIB has a smearing campaign against the airline, they should keep the innocent people away from this.
“If not for the kindness of my chairman, they would have sacked and blacklisted me. Once that is done, no airline in the world will work with me because they’ve painted me as someone with drugs in her system.
“This is really very bad. In the next 72 hours, if NSIB does not retract what they’ve said against me, I think we should sue. This is pure defamation of character.”
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