Nigeria Aviation Minister, Festus Keyamo says the ministry has directed for the Aviation staff who released the video footage containing the aspect of an Ibom Airlines passenger, Comfort Emmanson or Bob seen in an indecent appearance with her chest sexual organs exposed after the passenger shirt was torn by an Ibom Airlines staff while security operatives were seen in the viral video dragging the aggrieved passenger out of the aircraft following an act of confrontation between the passenger and Ibom Airlines hostesses which one of the hostesses blocked the right of way of the passenger and prevented the passenger from disembarking from the plane, and after countless warning to the Airline passenger to leave the road, the passenger went physical with the hostess by allegedly slapping her on the face which the confrontation with the hostess apparently led to the alleged destruction of the plane divider cotton which Ibom Airlines valued at $2,500 as stated in count 5 of the 5 count charges the police filed against the passenger at Ikeja Magistrate court in Lagos State.
The Aviation Minister, Festus Keyamo who described the behaviour of the passenger as unruly, said, although the airline staff is right to video record the event of the passenger’s behaviour for the purpose of legal action, but it is totally unacceptable for the staff to release part of the video that exposed the passenger’s nakedness especially her breasts. Details of the Minister statement reads verbatim below:
“EnOUGH Is EnOUGH: ReADING ThE RiOT AcT On AviATION SaFETY AnD SeCURITY In ReFERENCE To ThE CaSE Of UnRULY CoMFORT BoB On IbOM AiRLINE AnD ReLATED InCIDENTS
Earlier today, we again woke up to viral videos of a female passenger on Ibom Airline (now identified as Comfort Emmanson or Comfort Bob) who went berserk and physically assaulted both the flight crew and the ground staff. The incident took place yesterday, August 10, 2025 on Ibom Airline Flight Number Q153 from Uyo to Lagos at about 14:54 hours.
Ibom Airline has since issued a statement to provide some context to the effect that the whole unfortunate incident arose because of the refusal of the passenger to switch off her phone during take off as required by extant International Civil Aviation Regulations.
Consequently, in the last few hours, I have been speaking with the Commissioner of Police of the Airport Police Command, the DG of the NCAA and his team, the MD of FAAN and her team, the COO of Ibom Air and his team about the incident.
Apart from the indefinite flight ban imposed on the said unruly passenger (both local and international)
by the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) the Police has promptly arraigned her this morning at the Ikeja Magistrates Court for criminal offences and remanded her at Kirikiri Prisons as she could not provide adequate sureties in court. I have attached the Charge Sheet and Remand Order for clarity.
We also note the scuffle that took place between the unruly passenger and ground personnel before she was eventually subdued. This was because of her uncooperative attitude. Whilst we support the filming of her recalcitrant behaviour as evidence to prosecute her, what is DePLORABLE is to release such evidence containing indecent exposure to the public to ridicule her.
That is ToTALLY UnACCEPTABLE to us. We will not fold our arms and tolerate the debasing of womanhood. I have therefore directed that whoever ReLEASED that part of the video containing the indecent exposure amongst the staff should be singled out and adequately sanctioned.
I have also directed that the airlines must continue to train and retrain their staff in public relations and how to deal with potentially explosive situations in order to diffuse them promptly or nip them in the bud, except when it becomes inevitable. I have also directed a joint security meeting between relevant agencies next week for better coordination of security measures in situations like this or similar ones we witnessed recently.
For genuinely aggrieved passengers, there are clearly laid-down remedies to address grievances. The Consumer Protection Directorate of the NCAA has consistently advertised these remedies and there is no point trying to take the laws into one’s hands that may lead to dire consequences.
We will continue to apply equal sanctions available to us in Aviation on any such erring passengers, that is lengthy flight bans and report the matters to other law-enforcement agencies to do their bit within their powers”.
We had reproted that a careful study of the viral video involving the Ibom Airline Personnel, Lagos Airport Security operatives and an aggrieved passenger, Comfort Emmanson onboard the Airline Plane on Sunday indicated that while the enraged passenger was being dragged off the plane by three men; who held her two hands and legs, suspending her a little bit on the air, a lady putting on Ibom Air corporate clothes who was behind the camera lens could be seen in the video to have approached the passenger at the door point of the plane while the passenger was about to be taking out, apparently dipped her hand towards the waist part of the passenger, untucked the passenger shirt from the trousers, grabbed and pulled the passenger’s shirt towards her head, and in the process, the passenger shirt got tore and the passenger’s chest sexual organs or private parts were completely exposed, the action of the Ibom Airline staff appeared to be deliberate, as the Airline female staff was not part of those dragging the passenger off the aircraft and after the female passenger’s body was exposed, the Ibom Airlines female staff never joined or assisted the security operatives to drag the passenger off the plane, this indicated that, the motive of the female staff of Ibom Airline was solely to remove the passenger shirt and expose the aggrieved airline passenger to ridicule.