Comfort Emmanson, the female passenger accused of violently attacking crew members aboard an Ibom Air flight from Uyo to Lagos, has officially been arraigned before a Lagos court and ordered to be remanded at the Kirikiri Correctional Centre pending further hearings on the matter.
The development was confirmed by Tunde Moshood, Special Adviser on Media and Communications to the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, SAN, in a statement posted on his official X handle on Monday. According to Moshood, the incident should serve as a stern warning to air travellers about the consequences of disruptive conduct onboard aircraft.
“The more reason the flying public should be more careful,” Moshood wrote. “The unruly passenger on the Uyo–Lagos bound Ibom Air, Miss Comfort Emmanson, has been charged to court and she’s now cooling off in Kirikiri.”
Emmanson’s court appearance stems from a highly publicised mid-flight altercation in which she allegedly tore off a flight attendant’s wig, slapped her repeatedly, physically assaulted another crew member, and attempted to remove a fire extinguisher from its mounting to use as a weapon. The airline stressed that these actions posed a serious threat to the safety of other passengers, the crew, and the aircraft itself.
The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has condemned the behaviour, reiterating its zero-tolerance stance towards in-flight violence. The agency recently renewed its warnings against unruly conduct at airports and aboard flights, vowing stricter enforcement of regulations alongside severe penalties for offenders. This comes amid a troubling rise in similar incidents across the country’s aviation se
ctor.