Ibom Air has denied that its staff released a viral video showing a passenger, Comfort Emmanson, in a compromising state during her forced removal from one of its flights.
The airline’s Group Manager for Marketing and Communications, Aniekan Essienette, clarified in an interview with TVC News on Monday that although the incident occurred on an Ibom Air flight, the video was not shared by any Ibom Air staff.
Recall that the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, had vowed to identify and sanction those responsible for releasing the indecent video of Emmanson.
Keyamo condemned the public release of footage showing the female passenger in a state of indecent exposure.
Essienette stated that while the recording was made onboard one of the airline’s aircraft, several people in the area were not Ibom Air employees.
“As much as the video was taken on board, we had several other people who were not Ibom Air employees around the vicinity. So, anyone could have taken that video,” she said.
Essienette categorically denied Ibom Air’s involvement in releasing the video, saying, “I can tell you categorically that the video was not released by us. It is rather unfortunate that it has gone viral.”
She added that the passenger was forcefully removed from the aircraft after resisting instructions to disembark.
“She had tried to come out earlier, but she was restrained because of some activities that had happened behind the scenes, and eventually, the pilot in command had to call security,” she explained.
Essienette asked the authorities to focus on preventing similar incidents in the future, adding that no airline would deliberately humiliate a passenger.