Until last week, Captain Oluranti Ogoyi was best known in Nigerian aviation as a skilled pilot with more than a decade of flying experience. Today, her name is in headlines for a very different reason — a tense confrontation at Abuja’s Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport involving Fuji legend King Wasiu Ayinde Marshal (KWAM1).
The dispute unfolded as passengers boarded a ValueJet Lagos-bound flight. According to Ogoyi, shortly after KWAM1 approached the aircraft carrying a gold thermoflask, ground staff requested a routine safety check. Nigerian aviation rules prohibit liquids over 100ml and alcohol is banned onboard. She says staff suspected the flask contained alcohol after seeing the singer drink from it, but he refused inspection, reportedly saying, “Do you know who I am? You have no right to tell me to open my flask.”
When security personnel repeated the request, tensions rose. Ogoyi left the cockpit to speak with the musician directly. In her account, the exchange took a shocking turn when KWAM1 “without warning” poured the flask’s contents on her, security staff, and some nearby passengers.
Airport security intervened, and the head of security advised that the singer should not be allowed to board. Ogoyi says she agreed, ordered the aircraft door shut, and prepared for departure. But KWAM1 remained near the aircraft, delaying taxiing until security cleared the area. The flight left for Lagos around 8:50 a.m.
The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has since suspended Ogoyi and her co-pilot, First Officer Ivan Iloba, for undisclosed safety infractions, and issued KWAM1 a six-month ban from flying on Nigerian carriers. Public debate is now split between those praising the captain’s commitment to safety and others questioning her judgment.
KWAM1’s camp has a very different version. In a statement, his media aide Kunle Rasheed insisted the flask contained nothing more than plain drinking water given to him in the lounge. He claims the veteran performer tried to clarify the situation “respectfully” but that it was “unnecessarily escalated.” According to their account, KWAM1 was the victim, not the aggressor, and reports that he poured liquid on anyone are false.
The controversy deepens with claims that the musician was nearly run over by the aircraft — an allegation fueling outrage online.
For Ogoyi, born Oluranti Ogunwale and the daughter of former Osun Central senator Felix Kola Ogunwale, aviation is more than a job. She rose from first officer at Arik Air to captain in 2021, and friends know her by the playful nickname “Rantilicious.” Yet now, her career faces uncertainty as NCAA investigations continue, ensuring that both her name — and this gold flask incident — remain firmly in Nigeria’s public conversation.
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