By Kamil Opeyemi
Ibom Airlines has apologised to passengers for the delay they experienced, while the management tried to disembark a passenger who caused a scene.
NPO had on Friday reported that a yet to be identified passenger was removed from an Ibom Air flight after what appeared to be a strange behavior before take off.
The man who was wearing a t shirt had got up shouting that on no account should the President elect Bola Tinubu be sworn in as Nigerian leader.
His strange behavior had attracted the attention of other passengers who waited for flight crew to act fast before something untoward occurred.
The flights attendant had called in some security personnel who then forcibly removed the man from the plane.
As he struggled with the security men he kept on shouting that Obidients were looking at him as he was being roughed.
”Obidients, you are looking!” He kept shouting
Reacting, The Group Manager, Marketing and Communication, Aniekan Essienette, in a press statement via Ibom Air Twitter page on Saturday, addressed the incident and apologised to the passengers.
“We wish to inform the public about an incident on our 6pm 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 behaviour 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,” the statement read