Comfort Emmanson, the passenger who assaulted airline officials on an Ibom Air flight from Uyo to Lagos, has been charged to court and is currently remanded at the Kirikiri Correctional Facility.
Tunde Moshood, special adviser on media and communications to the minister of aviation and aerospace development, disclosed this in a post on X on Monday. His statement came shortly after the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) warned that enforcement actions against unruly passengers at airports would become more frequent.
“The more reason the flying public should be more careful, the unruly passenger on Uyo-Lagos bound Ibom Air, Miss Comfort Emmanson has been charged to court and she’s now cooling off in Kirikiri,” Moshood wrote.
Viral videos of the incident show Emmanson in a heated altercation with flight attendants on board, followed by confrontations with airport security officials upon landing in Lagos.
According to Ibom Air, the trouble started before take-off in Uyo when Emmanson refused to switch off her mobile phone as required by aviation safety regulations. A fellow passenger seated beside her switched off the device, sparking an angry outburst.
On arrival in Lagos, the airline said she confronted the purser who had earlier instructed her to turn off the phone and physically assaulted her, an act the carrier described as a serious threat to the safety of crew, passengers, and the aircraft.
In response, Ibom Air has imposed a travel ban on Emmanson, stating she will no longer be allowed to fly on any of its aircraft.
