Between Tuesday 5th and Sunday 10th of August, two infractions took place on the tarmacs of two of our nation’s busiest airports, the one in Abuja and the other in Lagos. The incidents did not urger well at all as they cast a shame on us, as a sovereign nation state. Each of the two incidents was an eye-sore. To say these airports are our flagship (and are of international stsndard) makes the matter even worse.
The ugly events story got terrible by a press release the Minister of Aviation, Festus Keyamo, himself a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, issued. It was dated 13th of August, 2025. In it, he highlighted the Government’s decision to withdraw criminal complaints or charged against Ms. Comfort Emmanson the central figure in the Lagos airport tarmac shame.
Music celebrity, Wasiu Ayinde Marshall (better known as KWAM 1) a man in his sixties, was the one in the centre of the opprobium in Abuja. To say the least, these airport shows were very disgraceful and deserve strong disapproval and condemnation from all.
The Minister of Aviation, Festus Keyamo was merely trying to keep his job when he released that lengthy press statement. If the situations did not take place in Nigeria, the blame would have been seriously put on the Minister for not putting effective security measures in place at the two airports. That would have been enough indictment to make him resign or be shown the exit door. But then, this is Nigeria, our dear country where government officials rarely contemplate resignation, and the boss would not force it on them. Then we have too, our gullible society that will tell you it is not his fault ojare! Na him send them?
Yes it may not be his fault, but legally we posit that the Minister is vicariously liable for the simple reason of not putting in place effective security to prevent possible hijackers to even attempt to hijack a plane right there on the airport tarmac.
Again, if we were not living in Nigeria, Wasiu Ayinde Marshall (KWAM 1) would have been considered by the security operatives at the Abuja Airport a man who wanted to hijack the Value Jet aircraft right on the tarmac.
KWAM 1 should therefore have been arrested right there on the tarmac if the incident had happened outside here. How come there was no visible law enforcement action or behavior when a man pranced on the Abuja International Airport tarmac that fateful Tuesday morning holding a golden flask suspected to contain “adulterated water”.
The drama happened at a time when about 60 or so passengers had already checked in and were ready to be airlifted to Lagos. Comfort Emmanson on her part refused to disembark from the Ibom Airline flight that had taken her safely from Uyo to Lagos. It is said that she had had alterations with some passengers and flight attendants inside the aircraft. They had insisted she switched off her phone during take-off time in Uyo. Again, a most condemnable behaviour and a deliberate attempt to break flight rules. Could that be done anywhere else except in the lawless jungle called Nigeria where we are and have found ourselves these many decades or so of executive rascality and folks sense of impunity?
To many the sum total of Mr. Festus Keyamo’s lengthy press release only managed to confirm to Nigerians where they knew or suspected the matter would go in the end. Certainly it was the way of the much celebrated Wasiu Ayinde Marshall.
Since Tuesday 5th August when the KWAM1 rascality took place, all had known the infringement will be treated with kid gloves. This is because he is a popular local celebrity in the Fuji Music genre, which many among the political elite love to hear and also listen to.
Very importantly too, Nigerians knew also that he is a good friend of the President and has been one in the last 15 years or more. From the time the president led the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) which was then a regional political party, to the time Sen. Bola Tinubu pushed on to make the coalition that birthed the All Progressives Congress (APC) as it is also known today,
Wasiu Ayinde Omo Anifowose, as he is also called, has been the official bard of the great politician known as Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
KWAM 1 has had that good will since his friend became Governor of Lagos State in 1999. Somehow, it is this goodwill that he has latched on and which perhaps makes him unable to distinguish officialdom from private life and living.
This is why we think the Fuji musician who loves to call himself as K1 De Ultimate should have been somehow more introspective. That he has never done nor shown. It is very clear that his inability to distinguish between what is acceptable behaviour and what is unacceptable is the reason he did what he did and so has got the public out cry against his effontry. We think the Minister has put the President in an ethical situation he probably finds himself in as the leader of the country. PBAT should have cautioned his younger friend of many years on some of the excesses Nigeria’s have about him long before now.
As Nigeria’s, how else can we interpret the Minister’s very long press statement of explanation and decisions taken than to think he has had to cleverly mute sanctions and decisions taken on a man whose acts and antecedent at musical shows and in the public sphere have not been anything in the realms of modesty and humility. Well he is K1De Ultimate ino bi so? He can do and undo and flaout all laws including those of aviation and “Nottin spoil”.
Among the decisions Mr. Keyamo has come to and will freely force down the throats of agencies in the Aviation Sector are the following: Criminal charges against Ms. Comfort Emmanson be dropped. The lifting of the life ban placed on her by the Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON). Captain Oluranti Ogoyi and her co-pilot Ivan Oloba be reinstated after observing one month suspension, be given back their licences but will still submit to professional re-appraisal.
It is good the Aviation Minister says valuable lessons have been learnt from the two irresponsible behaviours that recently set the aviation sector on edge and brought so much disrespect to our dear country. But how if we may ask did the Honorable Minister come about the idea of the two who acted so much in public disgrace becoming Ambassadors? Ambassadors of what? Of Airport Security? Habaaa! Festus the Biblical king! Please perish that thought. It can only be an insult to Nigerians for two people who disgraced their country to come out in a jiffy(not out of prison where they should have been) but to be made Ambassadors. That would rather be too otiose.To represent who? You mean the organization and the country they put to shame? No way sir! Be sure we speak the minds of many Nigerians especially the voiceless.
We believe the time has come for all the relevant agencies in the aviation sector to train and retrain their work force.Their professionalism must remain professional and top notch, no matter where they function
The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that standardizes practices in the international aviation industry and travel. ICAO plays a critical role in ensuring safe, efficient and sustainable operations in that sector.
Nigeria is signatory to this body.
Every safety protocol in air transportation must be obeyed by all passengers no matter their status, cabin crew, as well as the pilots and co-pilots during air travel. It is for this reason that Captain Ogoyi and her co-pilot Ivan Oloba had had to be sanctioned by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority. Their aircraft should not have been cleared when they knew someone was playing “god” on the tarmac in Abuja. For that reason they were both guilty of the ICAO safety rules. Now even if the pilot could be sanctioned, how much less a passenger. We must “ronu”and check our heads always.
We end this piece by appealing to all Nigerians that we need to rise up to the functional type of country we want to build as a people. Is it one whose people are law-abiding and have respect for social status and very importantly the dignity of man? Or that other type in which a few privileged by hook or crook rise up to ask all of us very rudely to stand up because they have arrived? We know we prefer the type that will use their privileged positions, wealth and talent to make the country habitable for all especially that are down trodden. That is where we must aspire to go.
May God save us from the nouveau rich and the pompous who will ask Do you know who l am? We seriously do not need those. May the never come out way again.
- Smolette Adetoyese Shittu-Alamu, a veteran journalist, writes from Osogbo.
