A passenger suspected to be a supporter of the Labour Party presidential candidate, Mr Peter Obi disrupted an Ibom Air Abuja-Lagos flight on Friday evening.
The middle-aged protester was said to have announced that the winner of the 25th February presidential election, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu must never be sworn in on 29th May.
In a viral video, no fewer than six airport security officers were seen making efforts to evacuate him after holding up the aircraft for more than an hour. The 6 pm flight had to be moved as ofto 7 pm.
As he was being carried off the aisle, the man could be heard shouting, “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.
In a statement by its Group Manager for Marketing and Communication, Aniekan Essienette, Ibom Air said: “We wish to inform the public about an incident on our 6 pm flight from Abuja to Lagos on Friday, 31st 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”.
