The inveterate culture of impunity in our country is, sadly enough, ingrained. This serious drawback, which often extends to our irreverence towards simple rules, is one of our insouciant attitudes that make the rest of the world view us with jaundiced ‘eyes’.
Our elites — the nouveauriches, the well-heeled — travel abroad all the time, maintain decorum and obey the rules to the latter over there. But back home, most of them become ‘too big’ to obey the same rules.
Unfortunately, our leaders, elected and appointed, wittingly or unwittingly, often encourage this imprudent behaviour by failing to punish misdemeanours when the so-called ‘big men’ are involved or applying punitive measures selectively when they concern other lesser mortals.
This has tended to carve out some people, especially politically ‘connected’ individuals, into the class of ‘the untouchable’ who can do anything and get away with it. This is what makes the culture of impunity to fester.
This is how we view the Federal Government’s handling of the embarrassing airport incidents involving the Fuji music star, Wasiu Ayinde Marshal, popularly known as KWAM-1 and one Ms Comfort Emmanson.
The clemency granted them flies in the face of reason. It is patently hasty and misguided. For one, investigations into the airport fuss are still ongoing— The Senate and the Inspector-General of Police have set this process in motion. And the public interrogation of the issues by the critical stakeholders are still evolving.
But, the Federal Government, through the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo (SAN), interjected suddenly to sort of botch up the process of getting to the roots of the whole kerfuffle by a hurried clemency. This is, to say the least, unjustifiable and unacceptable.
The first incident occurred penultimate Tuesday, August 5, at the Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport, Abuja, where Ayinde, also called K1 De Ultimate, was disallowed from boarding ValueJet Airlines Abuja-Lagos flight VK 201. This was because he insisted on carrying into the aircraft a flask containing a liquid substance exceeding the permitted 100millitres.
According to the airline’s officials, the celebrity musician refused to comply with the security regulation forbidding his action in spite of repeated requests and appeals. The flight captain, Oluranti Ogoyi, alleged that the musician opened the bottle and poured its contents on her and others nearby.
This is a shocking infantile and irreprehensible action least expected of a personality in the status of the Fuji crooner, an otherwise widely travelled celebrity who ought to have been abreast of these standard international aviation regulations and protocols.
It is a standard aviation regulation, post-9/11 era, that liquids over 100millilitres, including alcohol and sometimes water, cannot be taken aboard any aircraft. But Ayinde demurred, insisting he must go in with the forbidden item.
For being barred from the flight as a result of his intransigence, Ayinde, as if inebriated, almost went berserk, like an angry bull let loose from the lair. He impulsively planted himself before the plane, apparently to prevent it from taxiing, thus imperiling himself, other passengers and crew.
The flight captain, Ogoyi, herself did not behave better in the circumstance. She threw caution to the wind and allowed emotion to becloud her professional obligation that demands being unflappable at all times, even under provocation.
She angrily empowered the plane into motion while Ayinde and airport staff were still close to the sky bird, a grisly move that could have compounded the unsettling situation by causing unavoidable fatality. Ayinde had to, in fact, dock in time to avoid being decapitated by one of the aircraft’s wings!
Seven days later, penultimate Sunday, August 10, to be precise, a viral video showed another airline passenger assaulting a member of an Ibom Air, a purser, following an altercation on an Uyo-Lagos flight.
According to the airline, the lady, Ms. Comfort Emmanson, allegedly repeatedly slapped the purser over an order to switch off her phone before takeoff.
A statement Ibow Air issued over the incident said: “Shortly before take-off from Uyo, Ms. Emmanson was instructed in line with standard aviation safety procedures to switch off her mobile phone. She bluntly refused to comply until the Pilot-in-Command made an announcement, after which a fellow passenger seated beside her took the phone and switched it off.”
The police had alleged that Ms. Emmanson, who was later arraigned before an Ikeja magistrate’s court, that on August 10, while onboard Ibom aircraft No. 5N-BXP, parked at Murtala Muhammed Airport Terminal Two (MMA2), Ikeja, behaved in an unruly and disorderly manner by shouting on top of your voice, abusing and assaulting the flight crew and refusing to disembark from the aircraft after landing.
The charge alleged that she assaulted one Juliana Edward by slapping and hitting her cheeks. She also allegedly assaulted one Jokpame Sagun “by hitting her face with slippers”. She was accused of “willfully” damaging the aircraft divider cotton valued at $2,500, and tearing a braided wig valued at N110,000.
However, a co- passenger, who claimed to have witnessed all that happened before the Lagos-bound flight took off from Uyo, because he was sitting just two feet away from Emmanson in the plane, defended the lady in a viral online post.
According to him, at no time did she refuse to switch off her phone, contrary to Ibom Air’s claim. He said Emmanson actually had problem with her phone’s switch off buttons and had to be assisted to switch it off eventually. The eye-witness exonerated her from blame, attributing the cause of the whole brouhaha to one of the two hostesses on the flight.
He said the first hostess, who initially approached Emmanson to switch off her phone, was highly courteous, but the second one allegedly approached her with a needless huff, a move that seriously provoked her.
The eye-witness, who appeared on Channels TV on Friday to reiterate his claims, recalled: “Hostess 2 acted very poorly and inflamed a rather simple and small matter. And this is putting it mildly”.
According to the eye-witness, contrary to the claim that Emmanson refused to exit the aircraft after landing, it was actually Hostess 2 who allegedly heckled and prevented her from leaving the plane. She was apparently ‘detaining’ her for the airport security personnel who later grabbed her.
A video that went viral on Saturday confirmed this. It showed a scene where the truculent hostess planted herself on the door, disallowing Emmanson from existing the plane and the latter was heard complaining about it.
The eye-witness, however, condemned the level of violence and assault Emmanson exhibited when the plane landed in Lagos. “Ms. Emmanson’s reaction, though founded on grave, unwarranted humiliation and provocation, has no place in any sane society and should not be encouraged,” he added.
Indeed, Emmanson ought to have simply lodged a formal complaint with the relevant authorities at the airport rather than violently avenging herself by flying into a volcanic rage, hitting everyone in sight and hurling every available ‘missile’ at every target within reach.
What she displayed was clearly indecorous. That, however, was no justification for the manner she was rough-handled, debased and indecently exposed by security personnel. It is a clear violation of her dignity. It is highly despicable.
For Ayinde’s case, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority(NCAA) and the Minister of Aviation, Festus Keyamo, who condemned his conduct as “totally unacceptable,” promptly intervened by placing the unruly Fuji crooner on a six-month no-fly list for all domestic and international flights while investigations continued.
The NCAA also suspended the licence of the pilot, Ogoyi, along with that of her co-pilot, Ivan Oloba. The Airline Operators of Nigeria( AON) also placed a no-flight life ban on Emmanson. She was handed over to the Police, who promptly arraigned her before an Ikeja magistrate’s court, from where she was remanded in Kirikiri Correctional Center, Lagos. Both the Senate and the IGP ordered investigations into the two incidents of misconduct.
At a point, facing the prospects of further punitive measures and possible prosecution, the arrogant musician, who had literally been spitting out threats, came down from his high horse. Displaying a modicum of remorse, he pleaded with President Bola Tinubu, Keyamo, NCAA and the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) for forgiveness.
Keyamo’s announcement of clemency for both Ayinde and Emmanson at this stage is, however, a sour taste in the mouth. The minister, who has the proclivity of meddling in the functions of the regulatory agencies under his ministry, slashed Ayinde’s six-month no fly ban to one month. The minister said the NCAA is also to withdraw its criminal complaints against him (the musician).
He announced that the five-count charge of assault preferred against Emmanson had been dropped, in addition to releasing her from confinement. He said the AON has also lifted the no- flight ban placed on her.
For the pilots, he said the NCAA is to restore their licences after a one-month ban, after undergoing some mandatory professional re-appraisal. He defended that the decisions were taken by the government and the airline operators purely on compassionate grounds.
The reprieves are nothing short of a barefaced move to shield Ayinde from prosecution. Emmanson merely benefited from the government’s contrivance. Ayinde had ostensibly become an albatross to the government in the face of public outcry for proper scrutiny concerning his case, regulatory sanctions and eventual prosecution.
Emmanson’s case only came in handy and the government cashed in on it as a face-saving chance to free the popular Fuji musician. The powers-that-be was obviously not prepared to pander to popular demand to prosecute the musician being a politically ‘connected’ ally of President Bola Tinubu.
The clemency has saved the celebrity musician from a potential two- year jail term. The security breach he committed by planting himself before an aircraft about to take off is a serious misconduct.
Section 459A of the Criminal Code Act provides that any person who unlawfully obstructs, hinders, or impedes the movement of any aircraft in motion on or flight over any aerodrome is guilty of a misdemeanour and prescribes imprisonment for up to two years.
Keyamo further shocked the aviation industry and other stakeholders by naming Ayinde, a stroppy character, who recently publicly disrespected President Tinubu in a telephone conversation, an Aviation Security Ambassador.
The minister said the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) will work with the music star “with a view to engaging him as an ambassador for proper airport security protocol, going forward.”
Emmanson, Keyamo said, is also being considered by AON for a similar honour.
“If AON’s plan to appoint Emmanson succeeds, she and Kwam 1 are expected to collaborate with the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria as ambassadors for airport security awareness, promoting proper conduct among travelers,” the minister hinted.
Keyamo later clarified that Ayinde will not be paid, and that his role as an ambassador, which he described as a global practice, is a form of community service.
Just like the clemency stirred controversy, with some commentators describing it as hasty, Ayinde’s appointment as an aviation security ambassador also elicited wide public outrage. Aviation experts, legal buffs and other opinion moulders slammed the government for what they regarded as an inexcusable move, which amounts to rewarding misconduct.
We, indeed, do not see what qualifies Ayinde for this honour with his cavalier pedigree and egregious conduct. It is disappointing that the famous musician, rather than live up to his clout as a potential role model to youths and his teeming fans, has chosen to be haughty, impish and unnecessarily querulous in a situation that demanded a high level of sobriety and civility.
Although he has apologized for his misdemeanour, but we believe that the sudden reprieve he got on a gold platter, without going through any punitive, corrective process may not have sufficiently sobered him to appreciate the value of being an aviation security ambassador and the reciprocal responsibilities expected of him.
Keyamo said such appointments are a global practice whereby offenders are made to campaign against the misdemeanours they engaged in after they must have shown remorse.
True. But such makes sense only when the victims must have been made to serve some punishment and used the hiatus to go through some correctional spell and become genuinely penitent.
We believe Ayinde would be a proper and fit ambassador only if the punitive process had been allowed to run its course. That is at the stage clemency makes sense because he would have become sufficiently deterred and genuinely remorseful.
Meanwhile, in yet another oddly instance that demonstrates the extent Nigerians now coddle inanities, within just 48 hours after Emmanson was released from Kirikiri Correctional Centre, a rash of offers, endorsements and ambassadorial deals have been bombarding her from men from different corners of the country.
The Senior Special Assistant on Media to the Delta State Governor, Ossai Success,opened the floodgate of these ludicrous offers last Wednesday in an Instagram post. He was offering Emmanson a job with a monthly salary of N500,000.
The package, which obviously has the governor’s imprimatur, also includes flight tickets, accommodation in a five-star hotel, a guided tour, and a ticket to the Delta Social Media Summit scheduled for August 28 in Asaba.
Then, Crownlek, a top fashion house headed by Balogun Olamilekan, has also reportedly offered her a six-month ambassadorial deal to model their high-end designs and represent the company at major fashion and entertainment events.
There is also an undisclosed offer from a yet-to-be named real estate mogul from Ebonyi State. All of the offers are coming from men!
We fail to see any useful purpose these befuddling and incautious offers are meant to serve. What message are they passing across? A reward for misconduct? A message to other passengers that unruly behaviour pays, a dangerous precedent?
How can we seek to so openly glamorize rascality and indecency? Are we not fast sliding into a moral abyss as a nation? These offers stand logic on its head. And they are an incubus, highly troubling.
Going forward, the government and aviation industry stakeholders should learn appropriate lessons thrown up by the airport turmoil and strive to prevent a reoccurrence. The two security breaches have exposed the aviation industry to mordant scrutiny and the nation to international odium. We must guard against turning our sanctum of air travels into a turf for gangsterism.
First, all present and and potential airline operators should henceforth prioritize the engagement of only top notch crew members — pilots and hostesses who are highly professional and also sound mentally and morally.
They must be constantly exposed to training and retraining on how to effectively manage unruly passengers and de-escalate incendiary situations arising from emergencies.
Second, rules are meant to be enforced and obeyed. Aviation agencies, NCAA and FAAN, should enforce the rules to the letter without fear or favour. To this end, they should review the extant laws guiding their respective operations with a view to frontally addressing emerging complicated breaches that could imperil safety.
Unruly conduct is an aspect of security breaches that is increasingly becoming a global issue. So, since aviation is both local and international business, NCAA and FAAN can borrow a leaf from some international rules of dealing with the issue.
They include those from the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO),which set standards for aviation safety and security and which nations are required to establish and enforce as national rules.
According to aviation experts, even though NCAA did not sprout directly from ICAO’s laws, its operations fall within the framework established by ICAO’s Chicago Convention and its associated Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPs).
There is also the Tokyo Convention (1963), also known as The Convention on Offences and Certain Other Acts Committed on Board Aircraft, which was adopted to strengthen the capacity of states to curb an escalation in the severity and frequency of incidents of unruly and disruptive behaviours occurring on board aircraft.
The Tokyo Convention and the Montreal Protocol 2014 both contain very useful provisions spelling out the responsibilities of head pilots or flight commanders and crew members in managing potential unruly or violent passenger behaviours.
The United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has also gone tough in enforcing laws against unruly passenger behaviour following a disturbing spike in the trend, some of which have been violent. The agency signed an order in 2021 directing a stricter legal enforcement against offenders.
The FAA has, in extreme cases, levied significant civil and penalties against unruly passengers. The FAA reserves the power to impose civil fines up to $37,000. And in many cases, disruptive passengers have faced cumulative civil levies exceeding $100,000.
In addition to civil fines, the US also criminalizes and promptly prosecutes passengers’ disruptive activities that are violent in nature. For instance, two American Airlines passengers who, around March, this year, threw coffee at an agent after being barred from boarding were arrested and prosecuted on battery and trespassing charges.
The Irish passenger airline, Ryanair, has also set €500 as the minimum fine to be imposed on what they regard as “unacceptable passenger misconduct”. The airline believes nothing should be allowed to disturb or disrupt passengers’ safety and comfort.
These are some of the international laws and standards that can be borrowed and domesticated, if need be, to curb increasingly disturbing incidents of flight disruptions from unruly passengers in our shores.
It should no longer be business as usual in dealing with egregious characters who pose a threat to air passengers in the country.
