The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, has condemned the release of a video showing Comfort Emmanson, a passenger who assaulted crew members on an Ibom Air flight from Uyo to Lagos.
Keyamo described the release of the footage, which contains indecent exposure, as “deplorable” and “totally unacceptable”.
The minister said he had directed that whoever released the indecent part of the video should be identified and sanctioned.
His wirds, “Whilst we support the filming of her recalcitrant behaviour as evidence to prosecute her, what is deplorable is to release such evidence containing indecent exposure to the public to ridicule her. That is totally unacceptable to us.
“We will not fold our arms and tolerate the debasing of womanhood.
”I have therefore directed that whoever released that part of the video containing the indecent exposure amongst the staff should be singled out and adequately sanctioned.
“I have also directed that the airlines must continue to train and retrain their staff in public relations and how to deal with potentially explosive situations in order to diffuse them promptly or nip them in the bud, except when it becomes inevitable,” he said in a post on X on Monday.
Keyamo also said he had also directed a joint security meeting between relevant agencies next week for better coordination of security measures in situations like this or similar ones we witnessed recently.
He urged genuinely aggrieved passengers to follow laid-down remedies to address grievances.
The minister further said ,“the Consumer Protection Directorate of the NCAA has consistently advertised these remedies, and there is no point in trying to take the law into one’s hands that may lead to dire consequences.
”We will continue to apply equal sanctions available to us in aviation on any such erring passengers, that is, lengthy flight bans, and report the matters to other law-enforcement agencies to do their bit within their powers.”
The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has imposed an indefinite ban on Emmanson, covering both domestic and international flights.
Emmanson was arraigned before the Ikeja Magistrates’ Court and remanded at Kirikiri Prison for failing to provide sureties.
The Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) has also imposed a lifetime no-fly ban on Emmanson for her violent behavior
