Ibom Air Passenger Remanded For Assault

A passenger, Comfort Emmanson, accused of assaulting airline officials aboard an Ibom Air flight from Uyo to Lagos, has been charged in court and remanded at the Kirikiri Correctional Centre in Lagos.

This is just as the airline said it may ban her from flying with Ibom Aircraft.

THE WHISTLER recalls that Emmanson had in a viral video repeatedly slapped a Purser with Ibom Aircraft after she was allegedly told to switch off her phone before take-off.

This development has generated controversy among Nigerians.

However, Tunde Moshood, Special Adviser on Media and Communications to the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, in a post on his official X handle on Monday, confirmed that Emmanson has been charged in court and remanded in the Kirikiri Correctional Centre in Lagos.

“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 wrote.

Meanwhile, Ibom Airlines Limited has banned a passenger identified as Comfort Emmanson from flying with its airline after she was found assaulting one of the crew members of their aircraft.

Confirming the incident in a statement on Monday, Ibom Air said the incident happened on Sunday while Emmanson was on board their Uyo to Lagos flight.

The statement read, “Shortly before take-off from Uyo, Ms. Emmanson was instructed in line with standard aviation safety procedures to switch off her mobile phone.

“She bluntly refused to comply until the Pilot-in-Command made an announcement, after which a fellow passenger seated beside her took the phone and switched it off.

“This action prompted a verbal tirade from Ms. Emmanson. The situation was eventually calmed, and the flight departed as scheduled.

“Upon arrival in Lagos, Ms. Emmanson waited for all other passengers to disembark and then proceeded to confront the Purser, who had earlier instructed her.

“She walked up to the unsuspecting Purser, stepped on her, forcibly tore off her wig, removed her glasses, threw them to the floor, and used her footwear to assault her.

“She slapped her several times, and when the other cabin crew member tried to intervene, she slapped her too.”

The airline also maintained that the passenger attempted to forcibly remove a fire extinguisher to use as a weapon, an act they described as “an intention to damage and ground the aircraft.

Ibom Air Passenger Remanded For Assault is first published on The Whistler Newspaper