Ibom Air has denied responsibility for the release of a viral video showing a passenger in a state of body exposure during a recent in-flight altercation.
Aniekan Essienette, the airline’s Group Manager for Marketing and Communications, addressed the issue during an interview with TVC News on Monday, stating that while the incident occurred on one of their flights, the video was not shared by any Ibom Air staff.
Festus Keyamo, the Minister of Aviation, had ordered sanctions against any Ibom Air staff member found responsible for leaking the footage.
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Essienette noted that although 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.
“I can tell you categorically that the video was not released by us. It is rather unfortunate that it has gone viral.
“We do not condone such indecent exposure, so we would not have been the ones to release it.”
She explained 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,” Essienette said.
“For us to ensure that security takes her directly off the plane, our crew had to restrain her for a bit, and we saw what resulted after that happened.”
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On the rising cases of disruptive behaviour on flights, she said no airline would “go about their business to humiliate a passenger”.
