By NewsBits
A middle-aged man caused commotion on Friday in Abuja inside a Lagos bound aircraft when he suddenly stepped out and raised his voice, shouting, “Tinubu must never be sworn in,” and reportedly adding, “there would be war if that happened.”
NewsBits learnt that he was eventually deplaned, a development that caused panic and delayed the flight for over an hour. A video of the incident which has gone viral shows Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria security officials carrying the man off the plane.
The anti-Tinubu protester also said, among others, “You all are sitting here, and Tinubu is about to be sworn in as President. Tinubu must never be sworn in. He must never be President.”
Subsequently, the management of the airline has reacted to the story and tried to clear the air regarding the different versions of the story that is flying around in a press release made available to the media.
Excerpts:
Press Release
April 1, 2023
Unruly Passenger
We wish to inform the public about an incident on our 6:00p.m. flight from Abuja to Lagos on Friday March 31, 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 apologize 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.
…Signed, Aniekan Essienette, Group Manager, Marketing and Communication.
