The passenger accused of assaulting airline officials aboard an Ibom Air flight from Uyo to Lagos, Comfort Emmanson, has been charged in court and remanded in Kirikiri Correctional Centre in Lagos.
The Special Adviser on Media and Communications to the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, Tunde Moshood, recently confirmed the development via his social media page.
“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,” he wrote.
His update comes amid warnings by the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority that passengers who engage in disruptive conduct would be made to face stricter punishments henceforth.
Recall that Comfort, who boarded the Uyo to Lagos flight, had in a viral clip repeatedly slapped a Purser with Ibom Aircraft after she was allegedly told to switch off her smartphone before take-off.
The airline, via a press statement on Monday, banned the passenger from flying with its airline after she was found assaulting one of its crew members.
According to Ibom Air, the incident started before take-off from Uyo when Comfort failed to comply with safety procedures requiring passengers to turn off their mobile phones.
The airline stated that a fellow passenger seated beside her switched off the phone, an act that immediately sparked a heated verbal exchange.
Ibom Air said that as soon as the plane arrived Lagos, Comfort confronted the purser who had earlier told her to switch off her phone, and physically assaulted her.
Stressing that the passenger even tried to forcibly remove a fire extinguisher to use as a weapon, Ibom Air described her action as a “clear intention to damage and ground the aircraft.”
Ibom Air concluded that her behaviour posed a serious threat to the safety of its crew, passengers, and aircraft.
