A passenger on an Ibom Air flight from Uyo to Lagos has accused the airline’s crew of provoking fellow passenger, Comfort Emmanson, before the aircraft landed at the Murtala Muhammed Airport.
David Ogede, a lawyer who sat beside Emmanson during the July flight, told Channels Television’s The Morning Brief that one of the air hostesses had spoken to her in a confrontational manner both before takeoff and during the journey.
Ogede explained that the incident began before the aircraft left Uyo. According to him, the first hostess provided safety instructions politely, asking passengers to switch off their phones prior to takeoff.
Narrating the event, he said, “To be fair, Ibom Air instructed very clearly. The first air hostess that came told us clearly: no aeroplane mode, switch off your phone. After takeoff, you could put your phone back on.
“The first air hostess addressed us on the emergency exit protocols. After she did that, she spoke to Emmanson. Even from her posture, it was clear she came looking for trouble. Emmanson had been fiddling with her phone. I noticed she was trying to do something, but I do not know what. The air hostess told her again, ‘Switch off your phone, switch off your phone.’ And Emmanson replied clearly, ‘Please, the buttons on my phone to switch off are not working. ‘They are not working, so I do not know how to switch it off.’ The woman repeated, ‘No, switch off your phone.’
“That back and forth continued until the second air hostess said, ‘Look, you are even using an iPhone. You do not need a button to switch it off.’ The lady replied, ‘Okay, I do not know how to do it. Can you do it for me?’ The hostess said, ‘I am not touching your phone. I am not touching your phone. Just switch it off.’
“She said, ‘I do not know what to do.’ So the lady told her, ‘Okay, go to settings. When you go to settings, go to ‘general’. The girl looked at her and said, ‘Please, I cannot understand what you are saying. I cannot read. I do not know what you are saying or where I should go.’ The second air hostess then said, ‘I do not have time for your nonsense. Just switch it off.’
“She asked, ‘Is there a button on my phone? Can you spell ‘general’? The air hostess began, “G, then E.” That was the point the gentleman on my left and I spoke up. We said, ‘What is going on? Do not speak to her like this.’ The second air hostess did not even acknowledge us. She did not look our way to see that someone was speaking.
“At that point, I asked the gentleman to assist her. I said, ‘Please, can you just help this lady? I do not use an iPhone. I have never used an iPhone, so I am not familiar with Settings and all of that.’ The gentleman took the phone and tried to sort it out.
“While that was going on, Emmanson asked the second air hostess, ‘Why are you embarrassing me like this? Why?’ The hostess replied, ‘You had better keep quiet now. If you say another word, I will deal with you.’
“That was when Emmanson flared up and started cursing. I cannot repeat what she said because the language was very strong. That was when the second air hostess said, ‘Okay, you proceed,’ and left towards the front of the plane. She never came back.”
Ogede said the tension lingered until the aircraft touched down in Lagos, with passengers nearby sensing that the situation could escalate.
He recalled the moments leading to landing, the disembarkation process, and his reflections on how the incident could have been avoided if handled with more tact by the crew.
He said, “As we approached landing, the passenger beside me and I said in jest, ‘God help us. Let us get out of this plane before anything happens.’ But we also knew something was wrong. We were worried. When they told us to stow our items for landing, the lady did not hear me. I said, ‘We are landing,’ two or three times. Then the first air hostess, the polite and professional one, came, took her purse and put it in the cabin on top.
“When the plane landed, the first air hostess, the professional one, came to the front to begin disembarking. Just before it was our turn, Emmanson left. I presumed she went to the toilet. I also used the toilet and saw that it was the only compartment at the back. When it was our turn to disembark, we left and forgot about the incident. That is what happened. This is what I saw and heard.
“As a human being, as a citizen, talking about how she was handled during the flight, with a little bit of humility and humanness, things may have changed. The woman felt she was being attacked andsingled out, and, you know, just an apology and all thatcalm her down. I still insist that if this whole issue about switching off the phone had been handled by the first air hostess, it would not have gone up at all.”
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