Barrister Festus Keyamo (SAN), Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, has condemned the viral video of a female passenger who assaulted the Ibom Airline staff.
The Minister made this known on his X handle, expressing that while the authority supports the filming of the unruly behaviour of the passenger as evidence to prosecute her, it is condemnable to release such evidence containing indecent exposure to the public to ridicule the erring passenger.
The Minister added, “We will not fold our arms and tolerate the debasing of womanhood. I have therefore directed that whoever released that part of the video containing indecent exposure among the staff should be singled out and adequately sanctioned.”
A passenger identified as Ms. Comfort Emmanson went berserk and physically assaulted both the flight crew and the ground staff on August 10, 2025, on the Ibom Airline Flight No. O153 from Uyo to Lagos at about 14:54 hours.
She allegedly became violent when the flight crew members and other airport personnel approached her before she was handed over to airport security operatives.
Emmanson also engaged in a fight with the ground personnel before she was subdued. The Ibom Airline stated that the passenger had refused to switch off her phone during takeoff as required by the extant International Civil Aviation Regulations.
But as a measure to forestall such an occurrence in the future, the Minister stated that the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) had imposed an indefinite flight ban on the passenger, both local and international.
“The Police have promptly arraigned her this morning at the Ikeja Magistrates Court for criminal offences and remanded her in Kirikiri Prisons, as she could not provide adequate sureties in the court. I have attached the Charge Sheet and Remand Order for clarity,” said Keyamo.
He added that he had directed the airlines to continue training and retraining their staff in public relations and in how to deal with potentially explosive situations, aiming to diffuse them promptly or nip them in the bud, except when it becomes inevitable.
“I have directed a joint security meeting between relevant agencies next week for better coordination of security measures in situations like this or similar ones witnessed recently.
“We will continue to apply sanctions available to us in the Aviation on any such erring passengers, that is, lengthy flight bans and report the matters to other law-enforcement agencies to do their bit within their power.”
Thediggernews reports a similar occurrence between King Wasiu Ayinde Marshal, popularly known as KWAM1, and the ValueJet pilot when he attempted to board the plane at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, carrying a thermoflask suspected to contain alcohol.
When the situation aggravated, KWAM1 attempted to block the aircraft ready to be airborne. As the efforts to whisk him away from the runway failed upon plea by security personnel, the Fuji maestro almost got caught by the wing of the plane when it taxied along.
