A female passenger, Comfort Emmanson, who was captured on video assaulting a crew member aboard an Ibom Air flight from Uyo to Lagos, has been charged to court and ordered to be remanded at Kirikiri Correctional Centre in Lagos.
The Special Adviser on Media and Communications to the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Tunde Moshood, disclosed the development in a post on his official X handle on Monday.
“The more reason the flying public should be more careful — the unruly passenger on the Uyo–Lagos bound Ibom Air, Miss Comfort Emmanson, has been charged to court and she’s now cooling off in Kirikiri,” Moshood stated.
Emmanson’s case has stirred fresh conversations on unruly passenger behaviour, with the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority warning that it would adopt stricter penalties for disruptive conduct in airports and during flights.
A viral video of the incident showed the passenger repeatedly slapping the flight’s Purser after she was reportedly asked to switch off her mobile phone before take-off. Ibom Air, in a statement released on Monday, confirmed that the passenger has been banned from flying with the airline.
According to the airline, the situation escalated further when Emmanson allegedly attempted to pull out a fire extinguisher to use as a weapon. The act, the airline said, amounted to “an intention to damage and ground the aircraft.”
“This kind of behaviour endangers lives and will never be tolerated on our aircraft. We have zero tolerance for any form of violence against our crew,” Ibom Air stressed.