Although her action is uncalled for, manhandling woman is unacceptable — FIDA, others
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By Ebunoluwa Sessou, Abigail Aderibigbe & Ogechukwu Ibegbunam
Following the action of the Ibom Air passenger, the International Federation of the Women Lawyers, Nigeria alongside some other women’s rights organisations, have condemned the way the case was handled.
According to them, as much as her action was uncalled for, the manner in which the officers of the Ibom Air handled the case was totally wrong.
Former President of the International Federation of Women Lawyers, FIDA, Nigeria, Ngozi Ogbolu has this to say:
“I think both parties did not handle the situation very well. Both parties, both the Ibom Air and the lady, did not handle the situation very well. They could have done better.
Profession or is it a mental case?
“Even a prostitute still has rights. So, that does not come in there. We are talking about who is right at a particular time, what you did.
The Law
“It is a question of: did you conduct yourself very well? Is it against the law? Regardless of the kind of job I do, either a lawyer or prostitute; it does not come in there. So, both parties – the airline and the lady – have questions to answer.
“I am still of the view that the law provides that when a woman is being arrested, it should be done by women, not men. We should have security women that should assist in the arrest of a woman. Regardless of who is right or who is wrong.
Women’s right
“The way society handles women and children, needs a lot of improvement, because children and women are still vulnerable. The patriarchy system in Africa is affecting everything and everybody. So, it is a man’s world. Most of the time, some of the men, not all judge, because you still see some men that will stand up for women.
“So, women are usually in a disadvantaged position. That is why all women should rise up and always speak for themselves. Women should try to join politics.
“Women should make sure that their voices are being heard to avoid being disadvantaged. If we have anybody that will speak for women, nobody will come out and start talking down on women, calling the women prostitutes or anything.
“Unless they have patronized the prostitute, I do not know why anybody would call anybody a prostitute.
“This is not a case of gender imbalance because the matter was escalated and started by the same gender.
“I frown at the fact that men manhandled a woman. No matter how bad her behaviour, there should be female security that should be on ground.
“Women should always stand on their rights. Women should always lift each other, protect each other. Always lift your gender because it is a man’s world already.
“We are not well represented, even despite what the Constitution says. The only remedy is for women to stand for each other all the time.
“Unlike men, they are well represented. They have the strength. They have the muscles against the women. They are everywhere. In politics, everywhere in the hierarchy, you see the men.
“But the women do not protect themselves enough. They do not speak for themselves. So women should always stand on their rights.
“Also, being a woman does not give you the right to conduct yourself irresponsibly. Women should also conduct themselves very well because if I conduct myself very well, I will be addressed the way I am dressed.
“If you conduct yourself very well, nobody will come and manhandle you. You will get the respect you deserve. But, when you do not respect yourself; you will make yourself vulnerable and open to abuse. So I believe the lady and also the airline official did not do the right thing”, she said.
In her opinion, Ngozi Nwosu Juba, a prominent Nigerian feminist and human rights activist said: “According to what I heard, a passenger took her phone from her to switch off and then she was also not allowed to come down from the aircraft when the plane landed.
“So, if those are true, I think it’s a bit problematic for another passenger to grab her phone from her and try to switch it off. That was beyond that passenger’s role.
“My role when I see such things in a plane or in a flight is to call the attention of the aircraft manager to say somebody has refused to switch off their phone and not to snatch her phone. I do not know if that is exactly what happened.
“I also saw from the plane that one of the flight attendants blocked her from stepping down when she had landed. If it was true that they wanted to hand her over to the airline police, the best thing would have been to allow her to walk down from the aircraft.
“I am not justifying whatever she did by slapping an airline person. It was totally wrong. But at the same time, most times you cannot take control of how people respond when they think that they are being denied their rights. So if we had allowed her to step down from the aircraft, I am sure there are other ways they could have gotten her to go to the police if that was their intention.
“Refusing to switch off her phone was totally wrong. And I always have to take exception to people who refuse to abide by airline regulations because they endanger other passengers’ lives.
“The kind of job she does, does not really matter. Castigating her personality is totally wrong. Nobody has a right to interfere with the job she is doing. It has nothing to do with it.
“How do you know what job she does? Who can define her job? I do not understand how her job comes into question. It is totally wrong; it’s like saying that, because I am a sex worker, if somebody rapes me, it is not an offence. That is wrong because rape is an abuse.
“So if this girl is a sex worker and then she behaves in the way that she behaves, it has nothing to do with your work. Anybody can be provoked to anger.
“So that is totally out of the question. I take exception to people going to her page to download pictures of her saying that she is nude.
“This is what happens every time that a woman is involved in a problem. When Kwam 1 was involved, did anybody go to look into his past and know what job he does? It is totally wrong. We should never support that.
“They should focus on what happened and what she did and the action that she took. That is what should be everyone’s focus. They should just let that girl breathe. It is not their business what she does for a living.
Women standing for their rights
“I think that society thinks that women should not have voices, and that is totally wrong. We are judged. People love the fact that Natasha was speaking of abuse, allegedly, and jumped into her life, that she has six children for different men. That was not the question. So every time a woman tries to speak for herself, society comes after her.
“Nobody supports bad behaviour but at the same time, you do not use bad behaviour to also judge bad behaviour.
“I was not in that aircraft to actually know what transpired, but I think that Nigerian men and Nigerians should actually give women a break. We should not be played down. They feel the woman wants to become superhuman and that is why she is speaking for herself.
“So what I am saying is that society should move away from thinking that women cannot make mistakes because we are human beings.
“When a man commits crime, he is forgiven and everyone moves on. And then when it is women, it is totally a different story. The way that woman was manhandled; they could not have done that to a man.
“There are ways of speaking, and I still maintain that since the plane had landed, what they should have done is to let her come down from the aircraft, maybe all that would not have gotten to this. I saw where they were dragging her leg, pulled off her blouse.
“If she has done something wrong, they should have found a way to get her to the police for slapping another girl. So it is not about gender, and I say it again, anybody can be angry.
“A woman can be angry, a man can be angry but they should learn how to address it,” she said.
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