Police arrest Jim Iyke for slapping an airline guard

Jim Iyke, a veteran actor has been arrested on Monday at the Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA), Lagos, for slapping Suleiman a security guard assign to Dana Air.

It was learnt that Iyke, who had arrived late for the flight out of Lagos to Abuja, was reluctant to be screened by the security personnel of the airline. He was infuriated by the insistence of one of them.

The actor was supposed to depart Lagos with a 12:15p.m. flight but he came a few minutes past noon.

For most airlines, check-in closes 30 minutes before flight and about an hour for international flight.

Iyke allegedly damaged some facilities at the terminal, which led to the airline inviting the police to take charge of the situation.

He was eventually arrested by the police and detained by the police command, but while he was at the station, he reportedly phoned his lawyer.

The movie star, however, wrote a statement and apologised for his unruly behaviour.

Iyke was later checked in a 6p.m. flight to Abuja out of the airport.

Ezenwa said Iyke had come later for the flight, but because of his personality, the airline’s staff attended to 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.

“He came late for 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 the safety regulations. The airport police command intervened in the whole matter and he was arrested. He later wrote a statement and apologised and realised his errors. There was a written statement by him.

“After this we put him on the next flight, which was 6p.m. out of Lagos,” he said.