Reality TV star and influencer Natacha Akide, popularly known as Tacha, has criticized the conduct of some Nigerian air hostesses, accusing them of being unfriendly toward female passengers and showing preferential treatment to male travellers.
In a video shared on her Instagram page on Tuesday, Tacha recounted a recent experience in business class, alleging that the air hostess was warm and courteous to a male passenger but cold and dismissive toward her.
“Female air hostesses are one of the most unfortunate humans in Nigeria,” she said. “Tell me why I’m going to be on business class with a male customer and then you see the air hostess acting all nice and sweet to the male customer, and when it comes to my turn she’s having pepper body as if we had an altercation a day before.”
Tacha also weighed in on the controversial case involving Comfort Emmanson, the Ibom Air passenger who was arrested and banned for life following an onboard altercation. She suggested that the incident may have been provoked by the air hostess involved.
“If you check very well, that air hostess triggered Comfort and we did not see that part of the story,” she alleged.
Addressing the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, Tacha appealed for leniency in Emmanson’s case, referencing the Federal Government’s “Renewed Hope” agenda.
“Please temper justice with mercy… we don’t want common Nigerians like me thinking we cannot have hope in this country,” she said. “I feel like if the previous person got six months ban, then Comfort should be getting a similar punishment. Getting a life ban is just too much.”
Tacha argued that the public humiliation Emmanson had already endured – with her images widely circulated across social media platforms – was punishment enough.
“We have all learnt, I myself have learned before we enter into the airport to switch off our phones… Please sir, give Comfort a lighter sentence,” she concluded.
Her comments have sparked renewed debate online about the treatment of passengers by airline staff and the proportionality of disciplinary measures in aviation-related incidents.
