For smoking cigarette on an Air Peace flight, this man is going to jail

Jude Egbas 18:16 - 18 December 2019

E-cigarettes have been pushed as a safer alternative to smoking but critics say the flavours appeal particularly to children

The flight attendant caught him smoking a cigarette. Now a judge has sent him to prison.

A passenger caught smoking a cigarette aboard an Air Peace flight, has been found guilty by a Magistrate Court sitting in Ogba, mainland Lagos, and sentenced to two weeks imprisonment with the option of paying N200,000 as fine.

Flight attendant Adewale Oyebade who was carrying out routine safety checks, accosted the passenger as he puffed cigarette smoke behind the chair in front of him.

Air Peace Corporate Communications Executive, Stanley Olisa, says the act contravenes a standing global aviation regulation of non-smoking in-flight.

Air Peace plane on the runway in Nigeria (Punch)

He says Oyebade’s safety consciousness reiterates Air Peace’s commitment to global safety standards of protecting passengers and aircraft from harm.

The Air Peace flight P4 7558 was making the trip from Sharjah, United Arab Emirates (UAE) to Lagos, Nigeria on December 11, 2019, when the incident occurred.

Olisa advises intending air passengers to make it an obligation to comply with all established flight safety standards, because the measures are meant for their well-being.