- The Airline Operators of Nigeria described the incident as one of the most severe unruly passenger cases witnessed this year.
- A magistrates’ court ordered Comfort Emmanson remanded at Kirikiri Correctional Centre until 6 October for further hearing.
The Labour Party’s 2023 presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has taken a swipe at airlines for imposing a lifetime travel ban on a female Ibom Air passenger accused of misconduct.
In a Tuesday post on his X account, Obi compared Nigeria’s justice system to “a spider’s web” that traps the powerless while the influential escape without consequences.
His comment followed Sunday’s viral videos of Comfort Emmanson, seen confronting a flight attendant mid-air and clashing with airport security after the plane landed.
Ibom Air barred her indefinitely for allegedly assaulting its cabin crew, while the Airline Operators of Nigeria placed her on its lifetime “no-fly” blacklist — calling it “one of the most severe cases of unruly behaviour” recorded this year.
A Lagos magistrates’ court in Ogba has ordered that Emmanson be kept at Kirikiri Correctional Centre until 6 October when the case will resume.
The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority’s public affairs director, Mike Achimugu, disclosed on Monday night that despite the airline’s right to prosecute, both sides could still resolve the dispute out of court, which might lead to the case being withdrawn.
Questioning the speed of the sanction, Obi asked whether “due process” or “compassionate resolution” had been explored before the ban was announced.
“This morning, I woke up to learn that the passenger, the young Ms Comfort Emmanson in her twenties, has been banned from flying for life — once again showing how our system works, proving the truth of Anacharsis’s words that ‘the law is like a spider’s web: it catches the weak, while the powerful break through with ease’,” he wrote.
“There is something systemically wrong and unjust about this authoritarian decision.
“What due process was followed overnight leading to this sanction? Have we exhausted the avenues of justice and compassionate resolution in this matter?
“It is a tragic irony that a young lady in her twenties can be banned for life, while we — her parents — commit worse crimes against humanity and are celebrated.
“Those in positions of authority perpetrate far greater offences that harm the nation deeply, yet move freely in comfort, shielded from consequences.
“In Ms Emmanson’s case, the authorities acted with lightning speed, but the same urgency is absent when dealing with the influential and politically connected.
“If this young woman, who indeed acted wrongly, now seeks to apologise, who will hear her cry in a country where the pain of the poor is invisible and the dignity of the less privileged is often disregarded? Justice must be consistent, or it becomes oppression in disguise.”
The former Anambra governor maintained that rehabilitation and fairness should be prioritised, insisting that “power must never determine who is punished.”
The controversy erupted only days after a separate fracas at Abuja’s Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport involving Fuji star, Wasiu Ayinde.
Ayinde was also placed on a temporary no-fly list while the NCAA urged the attorney-general of the federation and the inspector-general of police to investigate the matter.