The Federal Government 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.
Recall 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.
