The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has disclosed why Comfort Emmanson, a female passenger who allegedly assaulted Ibom Air crew members, was remanded at the Kirikiri Correctional Centre, while Fuji music legend Wasiu Ayinde, also known as Kwam 1, who reportedly disrupted a ValueJet flight in Abuja last week, did not face any court action.
The Uyo–Lagos incident on Sunday sparked public outrage and accusations of selective justice.
In one clip, she was seen being dragged off the aircraft by security personnel.
This came days after Ayinde was accused of disrupting ValueJet’s morning flight (Flight VK 201) to Lagos on August 5, an occurrence that also resulted to widespread outrage.
However, appearing on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief on Tuesday, NCAA’s Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection, Mike Achimugu, stated that the two events were different.
His words: “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 noted that 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.
Achimugu further clarified 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.
Explaining why Emmanson was placed on a no-fly life ban, Achimugu said airline operators have the legal authority to take such action.
