In our country justice has altitude. The powerful soar above the rules. The powerless are crushed beneath them. Today it’s her. Tomorrow it could be you.
At our airports, power doesn’t just bypass the rules it waves at them from the VIP lounge.
Airports are supposed to be gateways of order, where rules are clear, safety is sacred, and no one is above the system. But in Nigeria, even the skies are not free from the turbulence of selective justice. Here, the runway is smooth for the powerful and full of potholes for the powerless.
Adams Oshiomhole storms an airport in full public view nothing happens. Kwan1 hijacks a plane nothing happens. But one young woman becomes disruptive on a flight and suddenly the Airlines Operators of Nigeria flex their muscles with a lifetime ban, hauling her straight to Kirikiri prison like a hardened criminal. Not even a night in a police cell straight to maximum security.
In this country, the weight of justice is measured not by the crime but by the weakness of the person accused.
Suddenly, the law grows wings. The problem is not just hypocrisy, but the convenience with which punishment is applied. I’ve been to enough countries to know, no nation moves forward when some walk above the law while others crawl under it. No country develops when the law is a ladder for the poor to climb into trouble and a trampoline for the powerful to bounce away from accountability.
Anytime Nigerians are truly ready for development, we will hold our leaders’ feet to the fire and demand that the rule of law be applied to everyone without fear, favour, or phone calls from above. But we are not ready, obviously. So our sufferings continue, endlessly recycled like bad airport music.
And here is the part many won’t say.
Ibom Air left out crucial details about how this whole incident began. It’s easy to craft a neat, one-sided statement that paints the passenger as the sole villain, but that’s not the full picture. Any competent captain would have kept the doors closed until security arrived, ensuring she was picked up respectfully not turning the cabin into a theatre of humiliation. Instead, the airline opted for a public spectacle, a move that might play well in headlines but exposes a deep lack of professionalism.
Selective enforcement of rules is one of Nigeria’s deadliest diseases. Today it’s an unruly passenger, tomorrow another scapegoat. But the powerful? The well-connected? They will keep storming airports, hijacking planes, breaking laws, and walking away untouched.
Until we fix this double standard, we can forget about flying towards progress. We will remain grounded, delayed, diverted, and stranded in a country where justice is only available to those with a boarding pass for privilege. A country where the law is blind only to the powerful will never take off, no matter how shiny the runway. If justice in Nigeria continues to be determined by altitude, our destination is certain endless turbulence and no safe landing.
And to those Nigerians quick to clap for this punishment because “she embarrassed herself” remember, it is easy to mock the rain when you have never been drenched. Pain is just a theory until it knocks on your own door. You don’t taste the bitterness of loss until it sits at your own table. A storm is only scenery until it tears off your own roof. Disrespect is abstract until it wears your own face. Only the wearer knows where the shoe pinches. You never know the weight of a load until it rests on your own head. A burn is just a story until the fire touches you. It is easy to condemn a wound you have never felt. The pain of a whip is best understood by the back that bears the scars. You cannot measure the depth of a river by watching from the shore. Today it is her. Tomorrow it could be you and when it is, there will be no applause loud enough to drown out your cry for fairness.
In our skies, the real turbulence isn’t the weather it’s the size of egos in the cockpit and onboard.
We’re not fighting turbulence in the air, we’re fighting inflated egos.
The turbulence that grounds Nigeria isn’t in the clouds it’s in the pride and pettiness of those that can handle situations professionally.
Stephanie Shaakaa
08034861434
