The Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt, presided over by Hon. Justice Adamu Turaki Mohammed, has awarded damages of $20,000 against Lufthansa German Airlines in favour of Mrs. Miannaya Essien, SAN, for breach of contract of carriage.
The judgment was delivered on December 11, 2025, in Suit No. FHC/PH/CS/138/2024 between Mrs. Essien and Lufthansa German Airlines. The court also awarded additional sums against the airline, including ₦15,000,000 as the cost of the action.
Mrs. Essien had approached the court following the cancellation of her flight to Port Harcourt by the airline without any explanation or apology. She had purchased a business-class return ticket from Port Harcourt to London via Frankfurt and was scheduled to return to Port Harcourt on July 14, 2023, with a stopover in Abuja.
During the trial, Mrs. Essien testified that the flight departed Frankfurt on July 14, 2023, and arrived in Abuja at about 5:05 p.m. for a stopover, during which Abuja-bound passengers disembarked. She stated that thereafter, Lufthansa refused to continue the flight to Port Harcourt, her final destination as indicated on her ticket, without providing any reason. She further told the court that the airline failed to formally cancel the Port Harcourt leg of the journey or offer any apology, which ultimately led to the institution of the suit.
Speaking to BarristerNG, counsel to Mrs. Essien, Oluchukwu Ulasi, commended the court for what he described as a well-considered decision. He urged passengers affected by flight cancellations to seek legal redress as a means of holding airlines accountable and curbing abuses of passengers’ rights.
Ulasi noted that the persistent disregard by both local and international airlines for Nigerian passengers has continued largely because Nigerians have remained passive in the face of repeated violations of their rights.