Air Peace Crew Asks NSIB To Withdraw Drug Claim Within 72 Hours Or Face Lawsuit

Air Peace has rejected a report by the Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB) that accused some of its flight crew of drug and alcohol use, calling it a smear campaign.

The airline’s staff also threatens legal action unless the NSIB withdraws the claims within 72 hours.

The controversy began on September 11, when NSIB alleged that the pilot and co-pilot of an Air Peace flight, which experienced a runway excursion at Port Harcourt airport on July 13, tested positive for alcohol.

The bureau also claimed that one cabin crew member tested positive for THC, the active substance in cannabis.

Reacting to the allegations, an Air Peace cabin crew member, Victory Maduneme, criticized the NSIB during an interview on Arise News Night on Friday.

Maduneme explained that NSIB officials collected her blood and urine samples right after the incident, but the results were only released 10 days later.

She said that after being called by the NCAA to collect a letter, she was in “utter shock” to see her test results upon opening it in Lagos, and subsequently visited the doctor.

The cabin crew member said that while she responded to their letter the next day, nearly three weeks later, another letter was given to her requiring “reconfirmatory” test, which she agreed to undergo.

“They sent me to go and meet a doctor Adetunji of Kupa Aerospace Clinic, which is the licensed clinic for this kind of test,” she said.

“When I went to meet the doctor, he saw me and asked about marijuana — (It) usually stays in the system for 90 days — that if I have something like this. He’s advising me to go back and come later when I feel like everything has cleared from my system.

“I said no, if I go now and come back later, it proves I have the drugs in my system, I insisted that I want to do the test, which was done to me, and everything came out negative.

“There’s a question I need to ask NSIB: if marijuana was found in my system, were they not supposed to tell this to my airline, and they’re supposed to stop me from flying.

“Because then I am a risk to passengers on board, and my license would have been taken away from me, but no, they didn’t inform them of this until after two months. Now, it’s just coming out, and they’re spoiling the image of the airline.

“I sent a copy of my result to you; everything was clear. If marijuana was supposed to stay in the system for 90 days, I did my test in a month, and nothing was found in my system.

“If NSIB has a smearing campaign against the airline, they should keep the innocent people away from this.

“If not for the kindness of my chairman, they would have sacked and blacklisted me. Once that is done, no airline in the world will work with me because they’ve painted me as someone with drugs in her system.

“This is really very bad. In the next 72 hours, if NSIB does not retract what they’ve said against me, I think we should sue. This is pure defamation of character.”

Co-pilot David Bernard also dismissed the bureau’s claims, stressing that he neither drinks nor uses drugs.

He argued that if NSIB wanted to prove alcohol consumption, a breathalyser test would have been more reliable than blood and urine samples.

“When you blow in your breath into the breathalyser, it checks the amount of alcohol in your system,” Bernard explained.

“But these guys at the Port Harcourt airport took our blood samples and urine on the 13th, and came back on the 23rd of July for the result. I mean, how long does it take for a result to be out. A blood test doesn’t even make no sense, we’re in 2025.”

Air Peace itself has backed its staff, rejecting NSIB’s accusations and pointing out that the bureau has not officially communicated any findings from its investigation into the Port Harcourt runway incident.

KanyiDaily had reported how the Air Peace flight veered off the runway after landing at the Port Harcourt International Airport on Sunday morning.