Popular Nigerian fashion designer and entrepreneur, Toyin Lawani, has accused staff of British Airways of alleged assault, intimidation, and discriminatory treatment at Kotoka International Airport, Accra, Ghana, while she attempted to board a flight to the United Kingdom.
Lawani, who lives with a degenerative spine disease and relies on a walking stick and wheelchair assistance, said the incident occurred on the night of her scheduled 9:10 pm British Airways flight, despite having checked in online ahead of time.
In recent times, aviation operators and stakeholders have pledged to tackle unruly behaviour, vowing to end such dangerous trends.
In a video circulating on social media, the ailing fashion designer was seen confronting airline staff over why she was being threatened with denial of boarding. A female British Airways staff member is heard insisting that Lawani would not be allowed to travel if she refused to delete the recording taken on her phone.
Detailing the incident on social media, Lawani said she arrived at the airport check-in counter at about 7:40 pm, only to be told that the counter had been closed, even though several other passengers were still being processed.
She said, “I use a walking stick permanently and British Airways’ wheelchair service because I can’t lift anything heavy or stand for long. I also have a trachea injury that affects my speech, so I avoid stress because when I force myself to shout, my body can go into shock.”
According to her, the situation quickly escalated when airline staff allegedly refused to attend to her and other passengers already in the queue.
“They closed the barricade and told us they had stopped checking in, yet they were still checking in other people in the same queue. We kept pleading calmly, explaining that I had already checked in online and that I had a hospital appointment in the UK, but they were rude, nasty, and dismissive,” she said.
Lawani further alleged that while passengers were being turned away, a female staff member was discreetly checking in another passenger at a corner of the terminal.
She added, “A companion with me, @segun_wealth, recorded a video of her snapping another passenger’s boarding pass by the corner. The moment she noticed the recording, she panicked and claimed they were friends. If you’re friends, why are you secretly checking her in?”
The passenger in question later requested that the video be deleted because her face was visible, a request that was honoured. Lawani insisted, however, that airport surveillance footage would still reveal the events.
“When a proper investigation starts, airport CCTV will tell the story. A whole Ghana cannot say there is no CCTV at the airport,” she said. Lawani accused the staff member of becoming aggressive after the recording.
“She started screaming at us at the top of her voice, threatening that if we didn’t delete the video, she would make sure I wouldn’t travel, even if I rebooked my ticket. That was when I brought out my own phone to record her, and she repeated it, acting as if her father owns British Airways,” Lawani alleged.
She also claimed that during the confrontation, her phone was hit and she felt physically and emotionally harassed, describing the experience as traumatic, particularly given her medical condition.
At the time of filing this report, British Airways had yet to issue an official response to the allegations. Efforts to reach the British Airways team in Nigeria and West Africa were unsuccessful. Phone calls and a text message sent to mobile lines received no reply.
Also, a response to an email sent to the BA media team in London was being awaited as of the time of filing this report. The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority spokesperson, Michael Achimugu, could not comment, stating that the authority only addresses incidents affecting Nigeria-bound passengers.
Meanwhile, another passenger at the airport during the incident, who wished to remain anonymous due to the sensitive nature of the matter, alleged that the airline staff members were rude, calling for a full-scale investigation.
She said, “I was there, and we all saw her trying to clear some other set of passengers through the corner. That is an obvious sharp practice. I think what these airline staff do is intentionally lock out passengers where they have either overbooked an aircraft or want to criminally scoop money from passengers to grant them entry, making their rights a privilege.
“Honestly, Nigerians should be treated better, not even when you saw that the person involved was in a wheelchair. British Airways will do well to investigate this matter.”
