Comfort Emmanson, the passenger in the controversial Ibom Air incident, has given a detailed account of the “traumatic” experience.
Gatekeepers News reports that in a video shared via her Instagram page on Sunday, the real estate consultant expressed gratitude to her supporters.
She explained that the confrontation began when the flight attendant insisted she switch off her phone instead of placing it in flight mode, despite one of the phones having a faulty power button.
Comfort said that after landing in Lagos, the same attendant stopped her from disembarking without explanation. When she tried to record the situation, the attendant allegedly pushed her back, dragged her wig, tore her clothes, and broke her necklace, leaving her partly exposed.
The passenger said she was then dragged off the aircraft while people recorded her, which left her humiliated and traumatised.
She said, “ On the 10th of August on Sunday, I boarded a flight from Uyo to Lagos. When we were inside the aircraft, the normal procedure happened. The lady, Juliana was telling everybody from the front seat to the back where I was, I was struggling to put my phone on flight mode before she got there, she asked me to put it off instead. I told her one of the two phones is faulty.”
“She said I could still switch it off through the settings. With the help of a fellow passenger, I eventually managed to switch off both phones.”
“When we landed in Lagos, everybody was getting out of the aircraft. I went to pee. Coming outside, everybody had already left. I had to rush, carry my stuff, and move to rush out of the aircraft. Going out of the aircraft, this lady, Juliana, stopped me and I asked her, ‘Why did you stop me?’ ‘Why are you stopping me from going out of the aircraft? Everybody has left. So I need to go out.’”
“She didn’t say anything to me. She stared at me with a bad eye. I picked up my phone and started recording. That was when she pushed me back inside the aircraft, dragged my wig, tore my clothes, and broke my necklace. The pain was unbearable.”
“They dragged me outside. My body was out there, and then they videoed me in the process. My body was out. I was looking for where to cover it. All of them, the surroundings like videos, cameras everywhere. I was surprised because I never expected that, like tearing my clothes and videoing everything.”
“My body outside, my naked body outside, plus the pain. No, it was so much for one person to bear. I started asking them, ‘Why would you do that to me?’ Why would you do this to me? And still like video me again and still put it out there.”
“God knows I would never poke an elderly woman old enough to be my mother. It was the pain she inflicted on me, dragging my wig and stripping me in public, that made me react.”
“Security officers came inside the aircraft dragged me out. She dragged my cloth which was pinned on me ( a pinafore) and I was wounded inside. All I could do was try to cover myself as my body was out there, while they were making videos.
“ I never expected that. It was too much to process, I was very angry. Like, the trauma is so much on me because I cannot even go out freely anymore because my body is out there. Some people even turned it into stickers.”
In a follow-up post on her Instagram story, she condemned “false narratives surrounding “the episode, noting that it wasn’t politically motivated.
She wrote, “There have been lots of narratives being pushed about the incident, even by respected individuals, some claiming my suffering was political. These are all false. I have received constant victimisation and libel. I only wish for redemption and to regain whatever dignity I have left as a woman.”
“I’ve flown with Ibom Air for years and never experienced this. Whatever happened after I was dragged down from the plane came from a place of pain. My swimsuit was clipped below my privates and torn.”
“Imagine the pain as a woman. I would never lay hands on someone old enough to be my mother if she hadn’t assaulted me first. I apologise for my behaviour, I am not crazy, nor am I wayward. I have never been in such a situation in my life, and I don’t wish it on my enemy.”
