By Abiola Olawale
The management of Ibom Air has distanced itself from the unauthorized release of a video showing a passenger’s indecent exposure.
This is as the airline condemned the leak as “totally unacceptable” and denied any role in its dissemination, emphasizing its commitment to passenger privacy and professionalism.
But industry experts and analysts say the denial is coming too late as it looks like an after- thought following the backlash that greeted the indecent exposure.
The video, which surfaced online and quickly went viral, depicted a passenger in a compromising situation during an altercation on an Ibom Air flight.
The footage has drawn sharp criticism, with Minister of Aviation, Festus Keyamo, slamming the release as a breach of ethical standards and ordering the arrest of airline officials suspected of involvement.
Ibom’s air claimed that the airline did not authorize or release the video.
Aniekan Essienette, the airline’s group manager for marketing and communications, made this known while speaking with the press.
Essienette said that although the recording was made onboard one of the airline’s aircraft, there were several people in the area who were not Ibom Air employees.
She said: “As much as the video was taken on board, we had several other people who were not Ibom Air employees in the vicinity. So, anyone could have taken that video.
“I can tell you categorically that the video was not released by us. It is rather unfortunate that it has gone viral.
“We do not condone such indecent exposure, so we would not have been the ones to release it.”
The manager explained that the passenger was forcefully removed from the aircraft after resisting instructions to disembark.
“She had tried to come out earlier, but she was restrained because of some activities that had happened behind the scenes, and eventually, the pilot in command had to call security,” Essienette said.
“For us to ensure that security takes her directly off the plane, our crew had to restrain her for a bit and we saw what resulted after that happened.”
