The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has announced the launch of an investigation into the incident involving a passenger and Enugu Air.
On Monday, a video circulating on X showed security operatives forcibly removing a passenger from an Enugu Air flight after he allegedly refused to switch off his mobile phone.
Speaking with TheCable on Tuesday, Obiageli Orah, director of public affairs and consumer protection at the FAAN, said investigations were ongoing, but preliminary findings indicated that the incident occurred after the passenger declined to comply with safety instructions.
“Right now, we are still investigating to get the full information about what happened,” Orah said.
“So far, what we have gathered is that a passenger was meant to switch off his mobile phone but he refused to abide by that instruction and other passengers in the airplane also joined in asking him to turn off his mobile phone and when he refused to do that, the securities on ground were alerted.
“Even the passengers were not comfortable with him refusing to switch off his phone and the securities had to deplane him.
“That is what we have gathered so far but we are still on that to get the full information.”
The FAAN spokesperson said the flight, which was scheduled to depart Enugu for Lagos, could not proceed until the unruly passenger was removed.
“He became unruly and the pilot had to report the matter to the controller,” she said.
“What is interesting is that other passengers in the aircraft were quite uncomfortable with the non-compliance of the passenger and they even joined in asking him to turn off his phone. The aircraft had to go back to deplane him.”
This is coming weeks after the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) directed that all mobile phones must be completely switched off during flight take-off and landing.
The directive followed a recent air rage incident involving Comfort Emmanson, a passenger accused of unruly behaviour on an Ibom Air flight from Uyo to Lagos.
