A co-pilot, David Bernard, and a cabin crew member, Maduneme Victory, have firmly rejected a report by the Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB) which alleged that they tested positive for alcohol and marijuana after a runway incursion involving an Air Peace aircraft in Port Harcourt.

The NSIB had on Friday released a preliminary report claiming the toxicology tests on the flight crew showed traces of alcohol and tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the active ingredient in cannabis.

The incident occurred on Sunday, July 13, 2025, when the Air Peace aircraft veered off the runway while attempting to land at the Port Harcourt International Airport.

According to investigators, the plane touched down 2,264 metres from the runway threshold, far beyond the recommended touchdown zone, before coming to a halt 209 metres into the clearway.

While all passengers and crew disembarked safely, the incident raised immediate safety concerns over the conduct of the flight team.

An aircraft incursion occurs when a plane wrongly positions itself on the runway, often caused by miscommunication, technical faults, or pilot error.

The NSIB preliminary findings, signed by its Director of Public Affairs and Family Assistance, Bimbo Oladeji, stated that toxicology tests carried out on the crew indicated the presence of alcohol and drugs.

Reacting to the findings, Bernard and Victory dismissed the claims as false and damaging, insisting they never tested positive for any prohibited substance.

They maintained that the report does not reflect the reality of the incident and vowed to challenge the NSIB’s conclusions.

The statement further read, “Initial toxicological tests conducted on the flight crew revealed positive results for certain substances, including indicators of alcohol consumption. “A cabin crew member also tested positive for THC, the psychoactive component in cannabis. These results are being reviewed under the human performance and safety management components of the investigation.

“Toxicological test was conducted on the flight crew at Rivers state hospital management, department of medical laboratory, Port Harcourt, on 13th July 2025 and they tested positive for some substances. Toxicological screening conducted post-incident revealed: captain and first officer: tested positive for Ethyl Glucuronide, indicating recent alcohol consumption.”

Co-Pilot, Crew Member Kick

The indicted airline staff, who spoke on Friday during an interview on Arise Television, accused the NSIB of conducting questionable tests at an unregistered centre to smear the image of the airline.

The co-pilot Bernard insisted that he does not take alcohol and drugs.

He said, “I don’t drink and secondly, we are in 2025, if you are trying to do an alcohol and blood test, we have something called the breathalyser, where you have to do your test right there. You blow in your breathe into the breathalyser. It checks the amount of alcohol in your system.

“But these guys at the Port Harcourt Airport took our blood samples and urine on the 13th and then, they are coming back on the 23rd of July with the result. I mean, how long does it take for a result to be out?

“We are in 2025 and we paid a lot of money for this flying school. You can’t just jeopardise somebody’s image, telling me I take alcohol. I didn’t see it in your presence. You took the test out to a non-aviation recognised hospital. So, it doesn’t make any sense at all. I don’t drink or smoke.”

The co-pilot noted that the airline usually conducted random tests on crew members, which always made them avoid anything that could put their jobs at risk.

He added, “So, you don’t just take anything because you can randomly be checked when reporting for duty. And you are not supposed to have 0.02 grams of alcohol in your blood and you are not supposed to take alcohol eight hours before reporting on duty or on standby.”

Also, faulting the test result, Victory described the development as an attempt to smear the image of the airline.

She said, “On July 13th, after we landed, we waited for NSIB to come on board. Then they came and started their investigation. And five hours later, they asked us to come into a room to do a test.

“So, we all went into the room and our blood samples were taken and our urine was also taken. Normally, when this kind of test is done, immediately after a drug test and alcohol test, you are supposed to get your results within a few hours. But this was not given to us that day. 10 days later, on the 6th, I was called by the NCAA to come and pick up a letter.”

According to her, the letter came as a shock.

“I went to the NCAA in Lagos, I opened the letter and I was in utter shock to see what was in my result. So, I went to see the doctor. I told the doctor that I was very shocked to see this in my result and it is not possible for me to have this in my system. And he told me to come back in seven days to reply to their letter, but I didn’t wait until seven days; I had to respond, which was on the 7th.

“They got back to me on the 27th that I should come to the office. I went to the office and I was handed a letter and the letter said I should do a reconfirmatory test, which I accepted to do and they sent to me to go and meet Dr Adetunji of Aero Space Clinic, which is the licensed clinic for this kind of test.

“When I met with the doctor, he said to me that marijuana usually stays in the system for 90 days. That if I have something like this that he is advising me that I should go and come back later when I feel like everything has cleared from my system. I said no, if I go back and come back later, it actually proves that I have this kind of thing in my system. I want to do the test.

“The test was done and everything came out negative. The question I need to ask NSIB is, if marijuana was found in my system, were they not supposed to say this to my airline, and were they not supposed to stop me from flying?

“Why? Because I am a risk to the passengers on board and my license would have been taken away from me. But they didn’t inform them of this till after two months. This is like the second month and it is just coming out and they are spoiling the image of the airline.

“This thing (test) was done within a month. And nothing was found in my system. If NSIB have a smiring campaign against the airline, they should keep the innocent people away from this. If not for the calmness of my chairman, they would have sacked me and blacklisted me. And once that is done, no airline in the world would pick me because now they have painted me as this person who has a drug in her system. This is really very bad,” she added.

She threatened to take legal action against the agency if it did not withdraw the report.

She said, “This is really very bad. This is pure defamation of character. I don’t know if our report and test should be shown because the world needs to see this and NSIB needs to come and actually clear this thing. We just woke up this morning and all this news is flying around. I wish we could just pursue this and let the world see that this is our test result and nothing is found in our system. These are all lies.”

However, the Director-General of the NSIB, Captain Alex Badeh, dismissed the allegations.

Badeh, while sympathising with the workers, said such reactions were expected from people in the eye of the storm.

He said, “We have heard them say it is a smear campaign against the airline. But I must point out that this is not our first preliminary report we’ve published. We have published countless. So, it is a little surprising to suddenly hear that it is a smear campaign against Air Peace. NSIB does not conduct test. This was done by the River State Hospital Management but it is an official test. They got tested, urine and blood and the report came out the next day, on the 14th, the crash happened on the 13th. So, the report was with us but we had to investigate other things.”