Comfort Emmanson, the passenger who attacked airline staff on an Ibom Air flight from Uyo to Lagos, has been charged to court and remanded at Kirikiri Correctional Centre.
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.
Moshood’s statement came shortly after the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) warned that it will step up enforcement against unruly behaviour at airports, describing such incidents as increasingly rampant.
“The more reason the flying public should be more careful. The unruly passenger on the Uyo–Lagos Ibom Air flight, Miss Comfort Emmanson, has been charged to court and is now cooling off in Kirikiri,” Moshood wrote.
Viral videos show an enraged Emmanson assaulting flight attendants onboard and confronting airport security officials.
According to Ibom Air, the incident started before take-off in Uyo when Emmanson refused to switch off her mobile phone, despite repeated instructions. A fellow passenger eventually switched it off after the pilot’s announcement, prompting a verbal outburst.
On arrival in Lagos, she reportedly confronted the Purser who had given her the instruction, assaulting her physically. The airline said she also attacked other cabin crew members, posed a serious safety risk, and even attempted to grab a fire extinguisher as a weapon.
Following the incident, Ibom Air banned Emmanson from boarding any of its flights in the future.
