Ismail Omipidan
Abuja
As a regular flyer, I am well familiar with the issues I’m about to dissect . The way Ms. Comfort Emmanson’s matter was handled suggests that airline operators and their personnel may have some form of protection, going forward. But how do passengers get reprieve when they are the ones who suffer assault?
When flights are cancelled at will, with airline operators showing no sign of remorse, who protects us? When they brazenly shortchange us with impunity, rubbing it in our faces, what should be our reaction? I raise these questions because unless regulators make a scapegoat of airline operators the same way they have done with passengers, it will be difficult to assure us that this newfound enforcement of operational codes will not be weaponised against us, the passengers.
That said, I believe Emmanson, being a first-time offender, should not have received the kind of sanctions she got. A ban and a reprimand would have sufficed, followed by a stern public warning to prepare everyone’s minds that, if such an incident occurs again, Kirikiri or Kuje will be the next home of the would-be offenders.
Secondly, there is an urgent need for the presence of professional security operatives at the airport so that, whenever the need arises, they can handle situations clinically, without resorting to assaulting the suspect.
In my view, deploying more than four untrained and uncivilised personnel to evacuate Ms. Emmanson from the plane only compounded the matter, caused her trauma and possibly triggered her heightened reaction.
To be fair, she might not have been under any influence other than rage. Perhaps, she is just someone with a short fuse. While I condemn her actions, I cannot spare the Ibom Air personnel either. They equally stand condemned.
Finally, while we await the report of the investigation panel on Kwam 1, can we also have that of Kwam 2? And let's ensure that justice isn't applied selectively.
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