Michael Achimugu, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority’s (NCCA) Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection, has provided details about the incident involving Ibom Air Passenger Comfort Emmason at the airport.
He clarified why Emmason, an Ibom Air passenger, was charged in court and why the NCAA finds it challenging to prevent passengers from acting in a disorderly manner.
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The NCCA official made this revelation during an interview with DailyPost. According to him, unruly behaviour happens all over the world and is not particular to Nigerians however, any any violent passenger can be removed in whatever way security deems fit, given the situation.
Recall that a previous statement released by Ibom Air stated that the passenger had been instructed to turn off her mobile phone but she refused.
He said, ” Reports indicate that throughout that flight, she was unruly mid-air, giving the middle finger to other passengers and to the cabin crew. So generally, the cabin crew avoided her. When the plane landed in Lagos, passengers disembarked.
“All of them. Nobody knew that she was still on that aircraft. They thought she had disembarked as well.”
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“While they were preparing the aircraft for turnaround, she just came out of her seat, 14F, and then worked to the air hostess on her foot and began to slap her.’
“Because of that action, security was called. When the passenger learned that security had been called, she wanted to leave the plane, and that is why the air hostess blocked the exit.”
Responding to the issue of the Ibom Air passenger being brutally embarrassed and stripped, an aspect of the incident that has raised controversy across social media, Achimugu said ” Now, if you saw the videos, even when she was brought out of the plane, at some point, her top got torn, her body parts were exposed, and all of that. But it was because she was struggling.”
“If she had not been unruly and fighting the way she was, if she had just quietly complied as they came to ask her to disembark, then there would have been no such situation. She had no right to attack.”
‘We see how she was punching people. The reason they had to remove her by force was because she had gone to carry the fire extinguisher on the aircraft to attack that girl on her head. Who would sit back and watch her kill somebody?
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He further stated that the NCCA did not sue the Ibom Air passenger or Kwam 1, adding that she was arrested and charged to court and that the NCCA has not role in that.
“So every narrative around this court decision that concerns the NCAA should be dismissed because the NCAA does not have the power to prosecute any passenger yet,” he emphasized.
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