Human rights activist Aisha Yesufu has accused Nigerian authorities of selective justice in the case of Comfort Emmanson, an Ibom Air customer who was arrested, charged, and held in Kirikiri Correctional Centre for attacking airline staff.
On August 10, during a trip from Uyo to Lagos, Emmanson allegedly refused to turn off her phone as instructed by the cabin crew, a normal aviation safety precaution.
The scenario worsened when another passenger apparently turned off the device, causing her to become enraged.
She was accused of assaulting a staff member and attempting to use a fire extinguisher as a weapon, activities that the airline regarded as potentially jeopardising the plane.
Ibom Air banned her indefinitely, and Nigerian Airline Operators placed her on a lifetime no-fly list.
She was then arrested by airport security, taken to the police, charged in court, and remanded in prison.
In a video shared on her X (previously Twitter) account on Monday, Yesufu stated that the incident highlighted Nigeria’s severe disparity before the law.
“We cannot have a nation where we have two justice systems, and depending on your social standing in the society, that will determine the kind of justice system given to you or aligned to you. That is unacceptable,” she said.
The activist stressed she was “not against the charges and accusations” against Emmanson but insisted that “justice must be justice” and must apply equally to all citizens.
“The reason it is the rule of law is that it applies to everybody, not that it applies for some people and not for some other people,” she added.
Yesufu contrasted Emmanson’s treatment with that of Fuji artist Wasiu Ayinde, commonly known as KWAM 1, and former Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomhole, who were involved in separate airline-related incidents but were neither arrested nor detained.
“Just the way they asked King Wasiu to come down. King Wasiu Ayinde, according to reports, actually poured whatever he had in the plane and even stopped an aircraft. But he has not been remanded. He sent in an apology letter, and after an apology letter, he was threatening the airline, and nothing has been done to him,” she said.
Yesufu alleged that political connections influenced how the cases were handled.
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Yesufu also criticised Emmanson’s restraint, claiming that security agents tore her clothes and exposed her breasts.
“That is sexual harassment. That is you putting somebody’s nudity in public while there was literally no need for that to be in the public place.
“You needed to show that you have humiliated her, and now she will forever live with the fact that her body part… is now all out on display, and people will continue to make caricatures with it,” she said.
The human rights activist opined that the situation could have been handled with more dignity.
“Imagine the way they dragged her out. Do they even train the security agents on what to do?
“They dragged her as if they were dragging a chicken, and someone from the back drew her dress so that it tore and exposed her breasts.
“Do you even understand what happens to her mental state? I’m not saying that what Comfort Emmason did was right… But there are better ways that Ibom Air could have handled that issue, not in the way that humiliated her,” she added.
Yesufu questioned why the same force was not used on other high-profile individuals in comparable situations.
“Why didn’t you drag King Wasiu Ayinde out of the aircraft like that? Why didn’t they bundle Senator Adams Oshiomhole and drag him on the floor?
“Why was it only Comfort that they felt comfortable dragging on the floor and displaying her body all over the space? There are a whole lot of things that are wrong there, and then they dragged her to court and remanded her, but the other people have not been remanded. I will say it again, selective justice is actually injustice,” she said.
