David Bernard, a co-pilot, and Maduneme Victory, a cabin crew member, have rejected a report of the Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB), which claimed that they tested positive for alcohol and a hard drug.
Speaking on Arise Television on Friday, Bernard insisted that he does not take alcohol and drugs and accused the NSIB of conducting questionable tests at an unregistered centre to smear the image of the airline.
“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,” he said.
“You blow in your breath 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.”
The co-pilot said that the airline usually conducts random tests on crew members, which always makes them avoid anything that could put their jobs at risk.
“So, you don’t just take anything because you can randomly be checked when reporting for duty,” he added.
“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.”
Victory described the development as an attempt to smear the image of the airline, faulting the test result.
“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,” she said.
“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 said 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,” Victory said.
“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 licence 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 has a smearing 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.”
The Times of Abuja reported that accident investigators had tested the pilots 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.
