Police arrest Nollywood actor, Jim Iyke for slapping Dana Air staff

Nollywood actor, Jim Iyke, was on Monday arrested by the police, at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos, for slapping a security staff of Dana Air, simply identified as Suleiman. Our correspondent gathered that Iyke, who had arrived late for Lagos – Abuja flight was reluctant to be screened by the security personnel of the airline.

The insistence of one of them increased his aggression and he allegedly damaged some facilities at the airport terminal, which led to the airline inviting the police to handle the situation.

According to the flight schedule, the said flight was to expected depart Lagos at about 12:15pm, but the actor arrived at the airport few minutes after.

In local flights, a traveler is expected to arrive the airport and commence the check-in processes at least an hour before the flight.

It was learnt that Iyke in the course of the aggressive behaviour was eventually arrested by the police and subsequently detained. Thereafter, he reportedly telephoned his lawyer who pointedly told him that his action was wrong.

He was understood to have written a statement, apologizing for his unruly behaviour. Iyke was later checked in into a 6pm flight to Abuja. Spokesman for Dana Air, Kingsley Ezenwa confirmed the development in an interview with our correspondent.

According to Ezenwa, Iyke had arrived late for the flight, but because of his personality, the airline’s staff attempted to assist him in order not to miss the flight, but he was not satisfied with the secondary security check he was made to go through like any other passenger for security purpose.

Kingsley said that “he came late for the flight and we were actually trying to help him. Someone was seeing him off to the aircraft and even at this, you have to go through the security checks.

“But, he didn’t want to go through this and eventually became violent against the security personnel of the airline who stuck to the rules.

He was unruly and gave our staff a slap. “Our security guys refused to let him go because he actually breached security and safety regulations.

The airport police command intervened in the matter and he was arrested. He later wrote a statement and apologized after realizing his errors. There was a written statement by him. “After this we put him on the next flight, which was at 6pm out of Lagos”.