The Minister of Aviation, Festus Keyamo has directed Ibom Airline to withdraw criminal charges against Comfort Emmanson.

He said the Police will immediately take the remaining steps to facilitate her release from Kirikiri Prisons within the week.

Keyamo also asked the NCAA to reduce the flight ban slammed on KWAM 1 to a one-month period.

This was made known in a statement posted on X by the Minister on Wednesday.

Keyamo said the development followed the outcome of consultation with critical stakeholders in the aviation sector and those involved in the unfortunate incidents .

According to the Minister, valuable lessons have been learnt by all sides to those incidents.

Keyamo said that in the case of Captain Oluranti Ogoyi, and the co-pilot, First Officer Ivan Oloba of VALUEJET, the NCAA is to restore their licenses after the same period of one-month ban after undergoing some mandatory professional re-appraisal.

“These above decisions were taken by Government and the airline operators purely on COMPASSIONATE grounds as Government will never pander to base sentiments, politically-motivated views or warped legal opinions when clear encroachment of our laws are involved,” he added.

Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has explained the reason why Comfort Emmanson, a female passenger who allegedly assaulted Ibom Air crew members, was remanded while Fuji music legend Wasiu Ayinde, a.k.a Kwam 1, who reportedly disrupted a ValueJet flight in Abuja last week, faced no such court action.

JomogNews recalls that the Ibom Air incident, which occurred on the Uyo–Lagos route on Sunday, has triggered public outrage and accusations of selective justice.

However, speaking on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief on Tuesday, Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, Mike Achimugu, said the two incidents were different.

“There is no comparison here; it’s not a case of oranges and oranges. In the Kwam1 incident, the airline did not activate its rights to take the passenger to court, so the NCAA did what it was supposed to do by petitioning the authorities to petition the passenger.

“In the Ibom Air incident, maybe because their staff had been assaulted, the airline immediately activated its right to take up the matter, and it went to court,” he said.

According to him, the NCAA was not directly involved in Emmanson’s case, whereas in Kwam 1’s situation, the Authority issued an advisory to the Airline Operators of Nigeria, AON, to ban the musician from flights.

He revealed that contrary to earlier reports, Kwam 1 was not placed on a six-month ban but on an indefinite ban pending the outcome of investigations.

Achimugu, while explaining why Emmanson was placed on a no-fly life ban, said airline operators have the legal authority to take such action.

Ibom Airlines Limited has banned a passenger identified as Comfort Emmanson, from flying with its airline after she was found assaulting one of the crew members of their aircraft.

Emmanson had in a viral video repeatedly slapped a Purser with Ibom Aircraft after she was allegedly told to switch off her phone before take-off.

Confirming the incident in a statement on Monday, Ibom Air said the incident happened on Sunday while Emmanson was on board their Uyo to Lagos flight.

The statement read, “Shortly before take-off from Uyo, Ms. Emmanson was instructed in line with standard aviation safety procedures to switch off her mobile phone. She bluntly refused to comply until the Pilot-in-Command made an announcement, after which a fellow passenger seated beside her took the phone and switched it off.

“This action prompted a verbal tirade from Ms. Emmanson. The situation was eventually calmed, and the flight departed as scheduled.

“Upon arrival in Lagos, Ms. Emmanson waited for all other passengers to disembark and then proceeded to confront the Purser, who had earlier instructed her. She walked up to the unsuspecting Purser, stepped on her, forcibly tore off her wig, removed her glasses and threw it to the floor, and used her footwear to assault her. She slapped her several times, and when the other cabin crew member tried to intervene, she slapped her too.”

The airline also maintained that the passenger attempted to forcibly remove a fire extinguisher to use as a weapon, an act they described as “an intention to damage and ground the aircraft”.

“By this time, the Pilot-in-Command had alerted airport security.

Before security could arrive, the Purser, as seen on the viral video on the internet, prevented the passenger from leaving the aircraft until security arrived.

“The arrival of Ibom Air Security personnel did not deter the passenger as she attacked them as well, lashing out violently at the security personnel. She was then restrained and removed from the aircraft by force. Even after disembarking, she continued to assault Ibom Air security personnel and even slapped the ground supervisor.

“The passenger was removed from the ramp and taken into custody by FAAN security and handed over to the Nigeria Police Force for further investigation,” Ibom Air stressed.

The airline stated that it had submitted a report on the incident to the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority and placed a travel restriction on Ms. Emmanson, who will no longer be permitted to fly on any of their aircraft, while commending the crew members and the security personnel for handling the situation with decorum.

“We commend the bravery and professionalism of our crew in handling this situation under extremely challenging circumstances, as well as the swift support from airport security and the Nigerian Police.”