Charged with public nuisance, court remands man who disrupted Ibom Air flight

The man who disrupted the take-off of an Ibom Air flight from Abuja to Lagos on March 31 has reportedly been arraigned at the Zuba Magistrates’ Court in Abuja and remanded in prison.

The man had caused a scene on a 6 p.m flight inbound Lagos from Abuja.

In a viral video, the passenger addressed others onboard the aircraft, saying President-elect Bola Tinubu should not be sworn in shouting the name of the followers of a particular presidential candidate in the just concluded election.

The passenger’s lawyer Ejike Ugwu said on Monday that his client had been arraigned.

The passenger was said to have been charged with “public nuisance, resistance to a lawful arrest, threatening violence and conduct likely to cause a breach of peace contrary to sections 396, 267, 188, 172 and 144 of the Penal Code Law”.

“The lawyer said his client was initially admitted to the Muhammadu Buhari Police Hospital in Abuja, but the facility did not have a psychiatrist doctor to examine him.

Ugwu said a doctor was invited from National Hospital in Abuja to examine his client.

He said: “While we were there, it was around 3 p.m they told us that they wanted to arraign him in Zuba Magistrates’ Court.

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We reminded the court that the same police invited the doctor to examine him, and the same police, instead of waiting for the doctors to examine him, hurriedly charged him to court.

Even with the test we did, we spent almost N40,000 at the police clinic. All the tests they conducted were abandoned. They have not prescribed any medicine.”

“The way the police are handling it is as if they have an interest in the matter. This is because you took somebody to a police clinic, you are coming to court to tell the court you want the person to be remanded in prison because you want to continue the investigation.

“Until now, we do not know the result of the test that was conducted in the hospital because they hurriedly took him away from the hospital.”