Ibom Air passenger remanded in Kirikiri for assaulting airline crew

Comfort Emmanson, the passenger accused of violently assaulting crew members aboard an Ibom Air flight from Uyo to Lagos, has been charged in court and remanded at the Kirikiri Correctional Centre in Lagos.

The update was confirmed by Tunde Moshood, special adviser on media and communications to the minister of aviation and aerospace development, Festus Keyamo, SAN, in a post on his official X handle on Monday.

“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,” Moshood wrote.

Her arraignment follows a widely publicised incident in which Emmanson allegedly tore off a flight attendant’s wig, slapped her repeatedly, assaulted another crew member, and attempted to remove a fire extinguisher to use as a weapon. These actions, the airline said, endangered the safety of passengers, crew, and the aircraft.

The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has recently issued renewed warnings against disruptive behaviour at airports and aboard flights, vowing stricter enforcement and severe penalties for offenders, as it notes a worrying rise in such incidents.