OPINION
The road to redemption for Comfort Emmanson

The road to redemption for Comfort Emmanson
Late British-born publicist Max Clifford famously stated that no publicity is bad publicity as long as the media spell your name correctly.
There is a road to redemption for the unruly Ibom Air passenger, Comfort Emmanson, who has been charged in court and remanded in Kirikiri prison. She needs a good manager and publicist urgently. I strongly believe that she will come out of this a better person, stronger, and perhaps richer. This can become her own ‘Big Brother’ moment. Young persons like her have gotten rich from the programme for displaying their ‘goods’ publicly.
The Akwa-Ibom state government, her home state, should lead the process of her redemption. The Bible preaches forgiveness so the state can ride on that. The state can also ride on the Biblical message which states in Romans 3:23: “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God”.
The Akwa Ibom state government should hire a lawyer for her and send representatives (Akwa Ibom State liaison officer in Lagos) to the Kirikiri correctional facility to ensure that she is receiving adequate care. With a good lawyer and support system, a plea bargaining deal can spring her.
Ibom Air owned by the Akwa-Ibom state government should also be part of this process. They could be convinced to drop the charges in the interest of peace.
The young lady has learnt her lessons. I believe that through her story, other airline passengers have learnt their lessons too. Even the Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) who have placed a ‘No Fly’ life ban on her can help in rehabilitating her. They can use her in a national public relations campaign advising air passengers to desist from disruptive behaviours.
The Aviation Minister Festus Keyamo who has had his hands full lately dealing with issues of unruly passengers can engage the young woman in a similar role of issuing passenger advisories.
Comfort Emmanson has unwittingly become popular although under unfortunate circumstances but all hope is not lost. This moment can be turned into a positive one for all the parties concerned. State and federal lawmakers from Akwa-Ibom state can support and not allow their erring daughter to be thrown under the bus.
There are a whole lot of people and associations that can jump on this case and help salvage the young woman. Her offence is not the worst we have seen perpetrated by people in this country. Senator Adams Oshiomhole and Kwam 1 are still walking free today. They famously disrupted airline operations and lived to tell the tales. Nothing happened to them. Is Comfort’s situation a case of selective justice?
From all evidence from viral videos and co-passengers’ testimonies, Comfort Emmanson shares part of the blame and so do Ibom Air officials who mismanaged the fiasco, filmed her half-naked, and went to town with a single narrative.
Speaking on this, Nma Oramali, owner of Garri Nteje is calling for more basic customer service training for airline stewardesses. She said that from her experience, “Air hostesses look down on traveling young single ladies and always give them this attitude as if they were being sponsored by men to fly. Such thinking is hurtful to hardworking young women like me and influences the way they treat us in-flight. This whole Comfort Emmanson situation could have been avoided if the air hostess had been empathic because passengers on the flight said that Comfort was struggling to switch -off her iPhone when instructed to. The air hostess then made a derogatory remark in the Ibibio language suggesting that Comfort was an empty head clutching an expensive phone without knowing how to switch it off. This infuriated Comfort”.
Lessons have been learned by all concerned. Let’s please focus on the real issues bothering us in this country.
Uche Nworah Ph.D