Ibom Air has explained why an ‘Obidient’ passenger was bundled out of its Abuja-Lagos flight at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja on Friday.
WITHIN NIGERIA had earlier reported that the passenger, who identified himself as a supporter of the Labour Party Presidential candidate, Peter Obi, was bundled out by airline security team and Aviation Security Personnel after he said the President-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, must never be sworn in as President.
He accused fellow passengers of sitting while Tinubu, who won February 25, 2023, Presidential election, is about to be sworn in.
Providing an insight into the incident, Ibom Air Group Manager, Marketing and Communication, Aniekan Essienette, in a statement said the team had to forcefully disembark him because his conduct was “unsafe.”
She said, “We wish to inform the public about an incident on our 6 pm flight from Abuja to Lagos on Friday, 31 March 2023.
“A passenger stood up and began addressing other passengers in a manner considered inappropriate and unruly, as he was making other passengers nervous.
“Our crew deemed his continuous unruly behavior unsafe and called on airport security to help with the situation. Upon his refusal to stop or disembark peacefully, the security operatives were left with no choice but to forcefully disembark the passenger as a last option.
“We are aware that several videos and reports of this incident are circulating on social media and wish to provide the right perspective.
“Ibom Air wishes to assure our passengers that we maintain very high safety and service standards and will never compromise the safety and security of our passengers.
“We apologize to the affected passengers for the time it took to disembark this passenger, which caused an otherwise on-time departure to be delayed by an hour.”
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