- Ibom Air apologises for flight delay
A yet-to-be-identified man was on Friday evening evacuated from an Abuja to Lagos flight.
The middle-aged lone protester was said to have announced that the President-elect, Bola Tinubu, must never be sworn in as President on May 29.
In the video circulating on social media, it took the efforts of no fewer than six airport security officers to evacuate him after holding up the aircraft for more than an hour, as the 6pm flight had yet to move as of 7pm.
In the video, the man could be heard shouting, as he was being carried off the aisle, “Obidients you’re here. They are doing this to me. Obidients you’re here, I am naked. Obidients you’re here, I am going naked.”
However, no one could come near as officials of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria and Ibom Air surrounded him.
Meanwhile, Ibom Airlines has apologised to passengers for the delay they experienced, while the management tried to disembark the passenger who caused the stir.
The Group Manager, Marketing and Communication, Aniekan Essienette, in a press statement posted on their Twitter page on Saturday, addressed the incident.
He said, “We wish to inform the public about an incident on our 6pm flight from Abuja to Lagos on Friday, March 31, 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 behaviour 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.”
