he Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) on Wednesday interrogated the crew members involved in the controversial Ibom Air incident, which saw a female passenger, Comfort Emmanson, brutalised, publicly stripped at the Lagos airport after a heated altercation with the airline’s air hostess.
Emmanson, who is at the centre of the controversy, was also questioned on Thursday afternoon.
The Director of Public Affairs & Consumer Protection at NCAA, Michael Achimugu, disclosed this in a brief statement posted on his verified X (formerly Twitter) account on Thursday afternoon.
“Yesterday in Abuja, the NCAA team met with Julie Edwards and other members of the crew involved in the Comfort Emanson incident as part of investigations into that event,” Achimugu stated.
He explained that the NCAA’s directorates of Aviation Security; Operations, Licensing and Training Standards; Legal; and Consumer Protection “are collaborating to ensure a proper conclusion to this investigation.”
According to him, “Later today (Thursday), Comfort Emanson, the passenger, would be meeting with the Authority. She is being accompanied by her lawyer.”
However, in a subsequent post, Achimugu said, “NCAA has held a meeting with Comfort Emanson, the Ibom Air passenger.”
SaharaReporters had reported how drama erupted at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos on August 10, 2025, when the passenger was captured on camera assaulting a flight attendant.
She later clashed with airport officials.
It was gathered that the in-flight drama began when she reportedly struck an air hostess, escalating after landing with viral videos showing her confronting security personnel on the tarmac before being forcibly escorted into an airport bus.
The airline alleged that she had flouted the directives of the air hostess to switch off her mobile phone, thereby breaching safety protocols, a charge Emmanson and her lawyers denied, insisting she was humiliated and assaulted for standing her ground.
The viral video sparked outrage online, with civil society groups, women’s rights advocates, and legal practitioners calling for an independent probe into Ibom Air’s handling of the matter.
On its part, Ibom Air issued a statement defending its crew, maintaining that Emmanson had “refused to comply with repeated instructions”.
However, Emmanson’s legal representatives accused the airline of lying, stressing that their client was a victim of “arbitrary and degrading treatment” in violation of her fundamental rights. They vowed to pursue both civil and criminal action against those involved.
An eyewitness who sat beside Emmanson narrated how the incident unfolded to the NCAA.
“Some aspects of his testimony offer an opportunity to look at other perspectives of this case, especially the behaviour of other actors involved and the manner of passenger handling before the flight took off,” Achimugu had said about the eyewitness’s testimony.
