Ibom air evacuates passenger over anti-Tinubu threats

An unidentified passenger was on Friday evacuated from an Ibom Air flight over alleged threats against Nigeria’s president-elect, Bola Tinubu.

In a video making the rounds on social media, the man stood in between the passengers’ seat in the middle of the aircraft and could be heard threatening that Mr Tinubu must not be sworn in as Nigerian president next month.

“You all are sitting here, and Tinubu is about to be sworn in as President. Tinubu must never be sworn in. He must never be President,” he said.

“I am a PhD holder in law and I’ll keep saying what I am saying.”

His conducts and utterances attracted the attention of other passengers aboard the flight, while some other passengers asked him go to court.

pic.twitter.com/i6VHkMZ3NQ

— Murphylizu (@shittumas) March 31, 2023

“Instead of going off this plane, you will go down,” the unidentified man told another passenger who challenged him to disembark from the aircraft.

In the midst of the melee, some airport security officials evacuated the man from the aircraft.

The story behind this video is that, a middle-aged man (checked-in passenger) entered the plane. He stood in the middle of the plane and raised his voice, saying…” you all are sitting here, and Tinubu is about to be sworn in as President, lai lai, Tinubu must never be sworn… pic.twitter.com/UlM2TX0qyL

— Foundational Yorùbá Boy (@Chrisbamidele) March 31, 2023

While trying to resist attempt to evacuate him, the man screamed: “Obidients! You are looking… Obidients!”

‘Obidients’ refers to the collective name adopted by supporters of the Labour Party candidate in the 2023 presidential election, Peter Obi.

However, it remains unclear as of press time Saturday morning whether the man is a supporter of the LP flagbearer.

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When contacted on Saturday, Aniekan Essienette, Ibom Air’s Group Manager, Marketing and Communications, told PREMIUM TIMES that the airline is aware of the incident, adding that security officials had to evacuate the man from the aircraft for “security reasons”.

“We shall issue an official statement soon,” she said.

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Meanwhile, a Twitter user who claimed to be a co-passenger on the flight, Attahiru Abdullahi, said the incident delayed the flight for over an hour.

“I was on this flight. This display delayed our flight take off time from 6pm to a few minutes to 7:30pm. I hope he’s fine anyway,” he said.

I was on this flight. This display delayed our flight take off time from 6pm to few minutes to 7:30pm. I hope he’s fine anyway

— ATTAIRU Abdullahi (@hajiabdul2003) April 1, 2023

Major opposition political parties ( Labour Party and PDP) have expressed dissatisfaction over the conduct of the just concluded presidential election that produced the candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress, Mr Tinubu, as Nigeria’s president-elect.

On Wednesday, Nigeria’s secret police, the State Security Services (SSS), announced that certain people are plotting to put an interim government in place ahead of the swearing in of a new president on 29 May.