‎A co-pilot, David Bernard, and a cabin crew member, Maduneme Victory, have rejected a report of the Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau which claimed that they tested positive for alcohol and a hard drug.

‎The accident investigators had tested the pilot and the crew member positive for alcohol and marijuana after a plane they flew was involved in a runway incursion on Sunday, July 13, 2025.

‎The Air Peace aircraft had veered off the runway while landing at the Port Harcourt International Airport.

‎The NSIB revealed that the aircraft touched down 2,264 metres from the runway threshold, well beyond the recommended touchdown zone, and eventually came to a stop at 209 metres into the clearway.

‎While all on board disembarked safely, the incident raised immediate safety concerns.

‎An aircraft incursion is the wrongful or unauthorised positioning of an aeroplane at the runway. Incursions are most caused by miscommunication, mistakes, faulty gear and potholes on runways, among others.

‎The NSIB preliminary report, signed by the  Director of Public Affairs and Family Assistance at Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau, Mrs Bimbo Oladeji, and made available to Saturday PUNCH on Friday, said toxicological test results conducted on the flight crew turned out positive.

‎The tests indicated the presence of alcohol in the system of the crew, while another crew member also tested positive for tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the active compound found in cannabis, colloquially referred to as “India hemp.”

‎The statement further read, “Initial toxicological tests conducted on the flight crew revealed positive results for certain substances, including indicators of alcohol consumption. “A cabin crew member also tested positive for THC, the psychoactive component in cannabis. These results are being reviewed under the human performance and safety management components of the investigation.

‎“Toxicological test was conducted on the flight crew at Rivers state hospital management, department of medical laboratory, Port Harcourt, on 13th July 2025 and they tested positive for some substances. Toxicological screening conducted post-incident revealed: captain and first officer: tested positive for Ethyl Glucuronide, indicating recent alcohol consumption.”

‎Co-pilot, crew member kick

‎The indicted airline staff, who spoke on Friday during an interview on Arise Television, accused the NSIB of conducting questionable tests at an unregistered centre to smear the image of the airline.

‎The co-pilot Bernard insisted that he does not take alcohol and drugs.

‎“I don’t drink and secondly, we are in 2025, if you are trying to do an alcohol and blood test, we have something called the breathalyser, where you have to do your test right there. You blow in your breathe into the breathalyser. It checks the amount of alcohol in your system.

‎“But these guys at the Port Harcourt Airport took our blood samples and urine on the 13th and then, they are coming back on the 23rd of July with the result. I mean, how long does it take for a result to be out?

‎“We are in 2025 and we paid a lot of money for this flying school. You can’t just jeopardise somebody’s image, telling me I take alcohol. I didn’t see it in your presence. You took the test out to a non-aviation recognised hospital. So, it doesn’t make any sense at all. I don’t drink or smoke,” he said.

‎The co-pilot noted that the airline usually conducted random tests on crew members, which always made them avoid anything that could put their jobs at risk.

‎He added, “So, you don’t just take anything because you can randomly be checked when reporting for duty. And you are not supposed to have 0.02 grams of alcohol in your blood and you are not supposed to take alcohol eight hours before reporting on duty or on standby.”

‎Also, faulting the test result, Victory described the development as an attempt to smear the image of the airline.

‎She said, “On July 13th, after we landed, we waited for NSIB to come on board. Then they came and started their investigation. And five hours later, they asked us to come into a room to do a test.

‎“So, we all went into the room and our blood samples were taken and our urine was also taken. Normally, when this kind of test is done, immediately after a drug test and alcohol test, you are supposed to get your results within a few hours. But this was not given to us that day. 10 days later, on the 6th, I was called by the NCAA to come and pick up a letter,” she recounted.

‎According to her, the letter came as a shock.

‎“I went to the NCAA in Lagos, I opened the letter and I was in utter shock to see what was in my result. So, I went to see the doctor. I told the doctor that I was very shocked to see this in my result and it is not possible for me to have this in my system. And he told me to come back in seven days to reply to their letter, but I didn’t wait until seven days; I had to respond, which was on the 7th.

‎“They got back to me on the 27th that I should come to the office. I went to the office and I was handed a letter and the letter said I should do a reconfirmatory test, which I accepted to do and they sent to me to go and meet Dr Adetunji of Aero Space Clinic, which is the licensed clinic for this kind of test.

‎“When I met with the doctor, he said to me that marijuana usually stays in the system for 90 days. That if I have something like this that he is advising me that I should go and come back later when I feel like everything has cleared from my system. I said no, if I go back and come back later, it actually proves that I have this kind of thing in my system. I want to do the test.

‎“The test was done and everything came out negative. The question I need to ask NSIB is, if marijuana was found in my system, were they not supposed to say this to my airline, and were they not supposed to stop me from flying?

‎“Why? Because I am a risk to the passengers on board and my license would have been taken away from me. But they didn’t inform them of this till after two months. This is like the second month and it is just coming out and they are spoiling the image of the airline.

‎“This thing (test) was done within a month. And nothing was found in my system. If NSIB have a smiring campaign against the airline, they should keep the innocent people away from this. If not for the calmness of my chairman, they would have sacked me and blacklisted me. And once that is done, no airline in the world would pick me because now they have painted me as this person who has a drug in her system. This is really very bad,” she added.

‎She threatened to take legal action the agency if it did not withdraw the report.

‎“This is really very bad. This is pure defamation of character. I don’t know if our report and test should be shown because the world needs to see this and NSIB needs to come and actually clear this thing. We just woke up this morning and all this news is flying around. I wish we could just pursue this and let the world see that this is our test result and nothing is found in our system. These are all lies.”

‎However, the Director-General of the NSIB, Captain Alex Badeh, dismissed the allegations.

‎Badeh, while sympathising with the workers, said such reactions were expected from people in the eye of the storm.

‎He said, “We have heard them say it is a smear campaign against the airline. But I must point out that this is not our first preliminary report we’ve published. We have published countless. So, it is a little surprising to suddenly hear that it is a smear campaign against Air Peace. NSIB does not conduct test. This was done by the River State Hospital Management but it is an official test. They got tested, urine and blood and the report came out the next day, on the 14th, the crash happened on the 13th. So, the report was with us but we had to investigate other things.”

‎Air Peace indicts NCAA

‎Also, Air Peace, in its response to the blowback, noted that the assistant pilot had continued to fly since the incident occurred.

‎The airline said the co-pilot had since been cleared by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority and returned to active duty.

‎“If he were involved in drug or alcohol use, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority would not have cleared him to resume flight duties,” the airlines noted.

‎Air Peace noted that if an eventual confirmation of a positive alcohol test was issued against the captain, it would step up the frequency of crew testing and strengthen its fitness-for-duty checks and internal monitoring.

‎Meanwhile, efforts to clear the contradictory grounds between the position of the NSIB and the alleged clearance of the NCAA had yet to be successful as of the time of filing this report.

‎The Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection at the NCAA, Michael Achimugu, said he was going to confirm and revert to our correspondent, but had yet to respond till press time.

‎Efforts to speak to the spokesperson for the NSIB also proved abortive as she neither picked up repeated calls put across to her phone nor responded to a text message of enquiry on the matter.

‎Watchers have, however, wondered if the aviation authorities have really been working in synergy or silos.

‎Air Peace also said till the NSIB made the report public, it hadn’t made any official communication to the airline regarding its findings on crew toxicology results.

‎The airline noted that it couldn’t have acted on a report that wasn’t shared with it.

‎“We are yet to receive any official communications from the NSIB on such findings over a month after the incident and after the testing of the crew for alcohol which took place in less than an hour of the incident! As a responsible airline, we place utmost priority on safety, transparency, and compliance, and it is important to set the record straight.

‎“Air Peace conducts frequent alcohol and drug tests on our crew. We have a very strict alcohol use policy that is stricter than the 8 hours before the flight as provided in the regulations. Drug use is a NO-NO!

‎“Following the incident, we took immediate and decisive action: The captain of the affected flight was grounded and relieved from further flight duty till date for failure to adhere to Crew Resource Management principles and for disregarding standard go-around procedures as advised by his co-pilot but not for testing positive to breathalyser test as the result was not communicated to us by NSIB to date,” Air Peace explained.

‎Meanwhile, according to Annexe 13 of the Chicago Convention, the International Civil Aviation Organisation requires the state (investigators, who in this case are the NSIB) conducting an accident investigation to submit a preliminary report to ICAO, but leaves the decision to make it public up to the discretion of the investigator.

‎Passengers, experts express fear

‎Since the incident was reported, Nigerians have expressed fear for the safety of the flying public stemming from the suspected laxity in the rules governing the aviation industry in Nigeria.

‎Both at the level of the airlines and in the aviation industry generally.

‎A frequent flyer, Aderoju Aina, said the matter must be taken seriously by the authorities.

‎He added that although such issues were not peculiar to Nigeria but in cases of developed nations, uncultured pilots were always being nabbed.

‎Aina said, “Just recently, I watched a clip of a pilot who was discovered to be drunk and was whisked away by the FBI. Human beings are the same everywhere in the world but our disciplines vary. My greatest fear is that everything goes in Nigeria and that is why I am afraid for my life right now.

‎“I don’t mind speaking to pilots to confirm their current mental stability or even smelling their mouths before embarking on a trip going forward, please.”

‎Another passenger, who identified herself simply as Maria, appealed to the authorities to get to the root of the matter to reignite passengers’ trust in the country’s aviation.

‎“I am supposed to fly to Abuja with my friend tomorrow. She has insisted that we would rather leave today to go by road because the news of the ‘drinking or drunk pilot’ has caused panic in everybody.

‎“But my only appeal to the Nigerian government or whoever is in charge of issues like this is that this should be followed to a logical end and not just be put in the past. That is why the other countries are ahead of us, it is not magic, all they do is due diligence and that is what I am also asking for.”

‎In his view, industry expert, Group Captain John Ojikutu (Rtd) blamed the NCAA for lax regulations, saying the agency was responsible for the enforcement of the aviation regulations in Nigeria and should be blamed when lapses occurred.

‎Citing past engagement with former Director General Dr Harold Demuren, he praised Demuren’s proactive approach to industry dialogue.

‎However, the source expressed concern over a lack of continuity and institutional knowledge at the NCAA.

‎“They are now losing experienced hands and are not even willing to train replacements. That’s dangerous,” he added.

‎The stakeholder revealed that during a previous intervention, they discovered over 150 unaddressed safety recommendations.

‎“We were called in to help and we found that these issues had simply been ignored. The NCAA must sit up and they have no option.”

‎He further referenced several troubling incidents, including a crash involving a pilot allegedly rushing to catch an international flight.

‎Ojikutu said, “In the days of Demuren, critical issues can’t be swept under the carpet. There was a pilot who crashed some time ago because he was rushing to catch another flight to travel out of the country. Many of these things are known but what are we doing to them? If truly the pilot was drunk, why was it that nobody detected that?

‎“Just like Dana Air that crashed in Lagos some time back. I gathered that the incident started 17 minutes after taking off from Abuja and he was either supposed to turn back or land at the nearest airport, whichever is closer but the pilot continued and crashed in Iju. A few weeks later, a similar one happened with Aerocontractors.”

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