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Akinwande Soji-Ojo
Ibom Air has explained why a passenger was bundled out of its Abuja-Lagos flight on Friday.
There was a mild drama aboard the Ibom Air Abuja-Lagos flight on Friday evening when a passenger, who identified himself as a member of the ‘Obidient movement,’ as supporters of the presidential candidate of Labour Party, Mr. Peter Obi, are known, announced that the President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, must not be sworn-in as president on May 29.
He accused fellow passengers of sitting idle while Tinubu, who won the February 25, 2023 presidential poll, is about to be sworn-in.
The airline security team and aviation security personnel of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, later bundled the man out of the aircraft.
Providing an insight into the incident, Ibom Air ,in a statement by the Group Manager, Marketing and Communication, Aniekan Essien, said the team had to forcefully disembark the passenger because his conduct was “unsafe.”
“We wish to inform the public about an incident on our 6 pm flight from Abuja to Lagos on Friday, 31 March, 2023.
“A passenger stood up and began addressing other passengers in a manner considered inappropriate and unruly, as he was making other passengers nervous.
“Our crew deemed his continuous unruly behavior unsafe and called on airport security to help with the situation. Upon his refusal to stop or disembark peacefully, the security operatives were left with no choice but to forcefully disembark the passenger as a last option.
“We are aware that several videos and reports of this incident are circulating on social media and wish to provide the right perspective.
“Ibom Air wishes to assure our passengers that we maintain very high safety and service standards and will never compromise the safety and security of our passengers.
“We apologise to the affected passengers for the time it took to disembark this passenger, which caused an otherwise on-time departure to be delayed by an hour,” Essien said.