NBA defends Comfort Emmanson, offering legal aid and condemning her lifetime airline ban as a violation of human dignity and due process

NBA defends Comfort Emmanson, offering her pro bono legal representation and condemning her treatment during a controversial Ibom Air flight incident.

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In a statement jointly signed by President Mazi Afam Osigwe (SAN) and General Secretary Dr. Mobolaji Ojibara, the Nigerian Bar Association criticized both Ibom Air and the Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) for imposing a lifetime ban on Emmanson without affording her a fair hearing.

Emmanson, currently remanded at the Kirikiri Correctional Facility until October 6, was filmed topless during an altercation with cabin crew, with the footage later circulating online.

The NBA described the exposure as a violation of her right to dignity and privacy, calling it a “grave affront to the rule of law and human dignity.”

According to the association, Emmanson was forcibly removed from the aircraft, stripped in public, and humiliated.

It also pointed to video evidence allegedly showing an Ibom Air hostess preventing her from leaving the plane, an act it suggested could amount to false imprisonment and may have escalated tensions.

The NBA demanded that the lifetime ban be withdrawn, a public apology issued, and an independent investigation conducted by the Minister of Aviation, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, and security agencies.

It further urged that those who recorded and shared the unedited footage be prosecuted for criminal invasion of privacy.

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Only the statutory aviation regulator, the NBA argued, has the legal authority to suspend or restrict a passenger’s right to fly, not private associations or operators.