Peter Obi questions due process in Ibom Air passenger’s lifetime ban

In his X post on Tuesday, Peter Obi, the Labour Party's 2023 presidential contender, denounced the lifetime travel ban that customer Comfort Emmanson received from the Airline Operators of Nigeria and Ibom Air due to alleged wrongdoing.

Obi questioned the fairness and due process of Emmanson's sentence and condemned Nigeria's legal system, comparing it to a "spider's web" that traps the weak while letting the powerful get away.

Videos of the event, which were posted on X on August 10, 2025, showed Emmanson, a twentysomething lady, yelling at an Ibom Air flight attendant and airport security guards.

In response, Ibom Air restricted her travel, and the AON placed her on a lifetime no-fly list, describing her actions as one of the “most severe cases of unruly behaviour” in 2025, leading to her remand in Kirikiri Correctional Centre until October 6.

On Monday, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority director of public affairs and consumer protection, Mike Achimugu, said that while the airline had the right to pursue prosecution, the parties could still settle out of court if they agreed to, allowing for possible withdrawal of the case.

The former Anambra governor questioned the process that led to Emmanson’s sanction, asking whether all avenues for justice and compassionate resolution had been exhausted.

Obi said it was a “tragic irony” that a young woman could be barred for life while “those in positions of authority perpetrate far greater offences that harm the nation deeply, yet move freely in comfort, shielded from consequences”.

“This morning, I woke up to learn that the passenger, the young Ms Comfort Emmanson in her twenties, has been banned from flying for life — once again showing how our system works, proving the truth of Anacharsis’s words that ‘the law is like a spider’s web: it catches the weak, while the powerful break through with ease’,” Obi wrote.

“There is something systemically wrong and unjust about this authoritarian decision.

“What due process was followed overnight, leading to this sanction? Have we exhausted the avenues of justice and compassionate resolution in this matter?

“It is a tragic irony that a young lady in her twenties can be banned for life, while we — her parents — commit worse crimes against humanity and are celebrated.

“Those in positions of authority perpetrate far greater offences that harm the nation deeply, yet move freely in comfort, shielded from consequences.

“In Ms Emmanson’s case, the authorities acted with lightning speed, but the same urgency is absent when dealing with the influential and politically connected.

“If this young woman, who indeed acted wrongly, now seeks to apologise, who will hear her cry in a country where the pain of the poor is invisible and the dignity of the less privileged is often disregarded? Justice must be consistent, or it becomes oppression in disguise.”

"Power must never determine who is punished," Obi stated, reinforcing the need for empathy and rehabilitation.

Days prior, Wasiu Ayinde, a well-known artist from Fuji, got into a fight at the domestic terminal of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja.

The musician was put on a no-fly list until a thorough investigation was conducted.

Additionally, the NCAA requested that the Inspector General of Police and the Attorney General of the Federation look into the event.