New Jersey: Angry Nigerian Wife calls In Fake Bomb Threat To Stop Husband’s Christmas Trip To Lagos.

Aviation Nigeria

A Nigerian in New Jersey man was grabbed by police at Newark Airport yesterday after the police were tipped off that he planned to ‘blow up’ a Delta Airlines flight to Paris.

Authorities now believe that the information, which came from the suspect’s wife, was a false accusation following nothing more than a domestic dispute. The New York Post reports that Eunice Ukaegbu, 50, rang police on Okieze Ukaegbu, 58, because the couple had just had a big fight and she didn’t want him to leave the country without her.

Eunice told the Post that she just thought she was just acting on her civil duty saying: "He told me he was going to blow up the airplane. I did what an honest citizen would do" she said.

The New Jersey nurse claims her husband 'is a little secretive'. Her story is that she first became concerned as Okieze had been acting distantly. When she could not open his suitcase, Eunice felt she had to warn authorities. Police and federal agents rushed to the Ukaegbu family home in Union, New Jersey, to question the possible ‘terrorist.’

Luckily for Okieze, the couple’s daughter overheard the incident and rang her father to tell him that police were on the way to apprehend him at Newark Airport. Eunice Ukaegbu told authorities she her husband was ‘secretive’ while he claimed she had ‘an alcohol problem’

Okieze had already passed through security and was waiting for a Delta flight to Paris, the first leg of his trip to Nigeria. He remained at Gate B45 until authorities arrived, then calmly told them that his wife was lying and had an ‘alcohol problem.’ Police took Okieze in for questioning, pulled his luggage off the plane and checked it with bomb detection dogs.

This caused the man to miss his flight but sources at the Post claim other travelers did not experience significant delay. After interrogation and searches, Okieze was released and cleared to take a later Delta service to Paris.

While his wife claims she contacted police out of genuine concern, they don’t believe her story. Authorities now say they plan to charge Eunice Ukaegbu.

‘It looks like that marriage went up in flames,’ a police source told the Post.

Bomb scare hoax on Arik Air aircraft.

Sky Watch Nigeria.

The management if Arik Air has dispelled the rumour making the rounds yesterday  that a passenger attempted to bomb its aircraft operating a flight from Maiduguri to Abuja. According to the spokesman of the airline, Mr Ola Adebanji ''to set the records straight, a passenger on board flight W3 812 from Maiduguri to Abuja caused a scare when he started shouting Allah Akbar shortly before the aircraft landed at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja'' he said. The frightened passengers on board the flight became suspicious and began to get worried the man was up to something.

Although all the passengers on board the flight, including the man in question, had initially gone through the normal security check at the Maiduguri International Airport and nothing incriminating was found on anyone. However, when the aircraft landed in Abuja, another security check was conducted on the passenger and nothing incriminating was found on him. 

A further security search was conducted on the operating aircraft, a Boeing 737-700 NG (Next Generation) and no trace of bomb or explosives were found. The aircraft went back to service immediately. 

Olabanji also added that ''Arik Air wishes to assure guests that all its flights undergo strict security checks and passengers have nothing to fear. The airline’s Aviation Security Department is one the most sophisticated in the industry and its commitment to security and safety of passengers is second to none in Africa."

The airline just last weekend in Accra, Ghana won the award of the Best Security and Safety Conscious Airline in West and Central Africa by the IICP.