BARELY one week after regaining her freedom from the Kirikiri Correctional Centre in Lagos State, following court-ordered remand, due her alleged unruly behaviour on board an Ibom Air flight from Uyo to Lagos, Comfort Emmanson, has finally come out with her own side of the story, by giving her account of what actually transpired.
Emmanson, sharing a video on her Instagram page, thanked Nigerians for their support during her ordeal, saying: “I want to come out fully to appreciate God Almighty and everyone that stood by me, that fought for me when I was in prison.
“When I came out, the love I saw, the support I got from people, I was never expecting it. For a commoner like me, you fought for me, you stood by me. I want to appreciate you all. God Almighty will bless you.
“So, on Sunday, August 10, I boarded a flight from Uyo to Lagos. When we were inside the aircraft, the normal procedure happened. The lady, Juliana, was telling everybody from the front seat, coming to the back, because I was at the back.
“She came to me, when she was coming forward, she came and I was putting my phone on flight mode, but she said no, that I had to put it off. So, I told her that one of my phones, because I was with two phones, was faulty, the phone was bad, the power button was bad, so I showed her that the power button was bad. She said I could put off my phone without the power button.
“She said I should go to my settings. While she was like telling me, ‘go to your settings’ and all that, I went to my settings. She said, ‘go to general.’ While trying to do that, the man that was sitting on my right now helped me to turn off the phone.
“While we were struggling on the other one that has the power button issue, she said I should go to my ‘general.’ I went to the ‘settings’ and the ‘general.’ When I told her, please could you assist me in spelling general, she said, ‘she could not touch my phone, she could never touch my phone, ‘children of nowadays.’
“I now turned to the guy that helped me to turn off one of my phones. I told him, ‘please could you assist me and spell ‘general.’ The guy collected my phone and typed ‘general.’
“So when I went to her, saying, ‘this is the general, I am here now.’ The face that she gave me was not even encouraging. I had to plead with the same guy again, telling him to turn the phone off for me.
“He now said, ‘okay, no problem,’ and turned off the phone eventually.’ So, I now turned off the phone, the two phones, put it where it was supposed to be.
“When she wanted to leave, she said, ‘you will see.’ I did not take that to heart because I had already turned off my phone, which I had problem with turning off.
“When we landed in Lagos, everybody was going out of the aircraft. I was stressed, so I went to pee. Upon going to the toilet, somebody was already inside the toilet and I had to wait for the person to come out.
“When the person in the toilet came out, I went inside and pee and rushed to come out. I could not stay inside the toilet because it was so small. It was so uncomfortable to be in there. So, I rushed to pee and came outside.
“Upon coming outside, everybody on the aircraft already left. I had to rush, carry my stuff and move to rush out of the aircraft. Going out of the aircraft, this lady, Juliana, stopped me, and I asked her, ‘why did you stop me? Why are you stopping me from going out of the aircraft? Everybody has left, and I needed to go out.’
“She didn’t say anything to me; she was just like staring at me with the same bad eye, and that was when I remembered that was the same person who instructed me to put off my phone, which I eventually did.
“That was when I put my phone on and started recording. I was just like, ‘please madam, leave.’ But she didn’t answer me; she ignored. When I picked the phone, that was when she noticed I was videoing her.
“She now pushed me inside the aircraft back, dragged my frontal. She dragged the frontal and in the process of dragging my clothes, my gold from neck, my phone and everything went down and broke. The phone broke.
“So, I was like, ‘why did you do that? Why did you break my phone and drag my frontal?’ Due to the pain of doing that to me, I went to poke her.
“God knows that I can never go and poke an elderly woman; somebody that is old enough to be my mum. It was the pain she inflicted on me that made me poke her. It was out of anger. I was so angry. I could not even like hold it.
“That was why I was asking her ‘why did you do that?’ on the trending video. ‘Why did you do that?’ I asked her ‘why did you drag my frontal wig and call me a prostitute in the process?’
“While on that, those guys came into the aircraft and started surrounding me, and I was like, ‘why?’ They now dragged me outside. In the process, my cloth was dragged. The pain of dragging wounded me inside.
“My body was out there, and then they were making videos. While my body was out, I was looking for ways to cover it. Some of them were trying to like touch me, and I was trying to cover myself. All of them surrounded me with cameras everywhere.
“I was surprised because I never expected that my clothes would be torn, and they would make a video of everything. My body outside, my naked body outside, plus the pain. It was so much for me, and I could not hold myself again.
“The trauma is too much on me right now, as I am talking to you now, I cannot even go out again, because my body is out there. I am ashamed of going out because my body is out there. Some people have even used the video to make stickers.
“I am into real estate. Imagine me going to sell a house or advertise a house or try to bring a client to buy a house now and they are looking at my body. How do I even face them, knowing that my body is out there? How do I even go for business? Imagine me going for business and somebody is looking? How about my reputation?
“The reason why I had not come out to say my part of the story is because I was still on treatment. I am trying to round up my treatment. People are even making mockery of me.
“On Instagram, WhatsApp, Facebook, my body is out there. So, I don’t know how I will go from here. I really want to continue my life, my normal lifestyle. People who know me know that I am not really a social media person. It is so embarrassing.”
Shortly after the 11-minute-long video, Emmason, in a follow-up statement, decried the spread of what she described as false narratives, insisting: “There have been lots of narratives being pushed about the incident, even by respected individuals, some claiming my suffering was political. These are all false.
“I have received constant victimisation and libel. I only wish for redemption and to regain whatever dignity I have left as a woman.
“I’ve flown with Ibom Air for years and never experienced this. Whatever happened after I was dragged down from the plane came from a place of pain. My swimsuit was clipped below my privates and torn.
“Imagine the pain as a woman. I would never lay hands on someone old enough to be my mother if she hadn’t assaulted me first.
“I apologise about my behaviour, I am not crazy, neither am I wayward. I have never been in such a situation in my life, and I don’t wish it on my enemy.”
Emmanson had earlier dismissed a report linking her to a N500billion lawsuit against the Federal Government, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Ibom Air and others, clarifying, in a statement on her Instagram page on Saturday, August 16, following a report that she had filed a suit through a lawyer, Ayodele Ademiluyi, in a Lagos court, demanding N500billion as damages over the incident.
While disociating herself from the lawyer and said suit, Emmanson stated that she was yet to file any suit, adding, however, that if she does, it will be made public by her.
According to her: “My attention has been drawn to a fake report claiming that I have filed a N500billion lawsuit against the Federal Government, NCAA and others.
“This information is false and misleading. I have not taken any such legal action yet. When I eventually do anything of such nature (which is imminent), I will personally update the public myself via my official page.
“For the avoidance of doubt, my lawyer is Adam Atakpa of Kippraise Attorneys.
“I urge everyone to disregard this fake news and avoid being misled.”
Recall that Emmanson was remanded before she was freed after the intervention of the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo (SAN), following public criticism of the way and manner she was treated, especially the exposure of her privates.
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