Following more than 15 hours of hostage-taking by Libyan officials, which sparked an international outcry, Super Eagles players landed at Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport yesterday.
The Confederation of African Football, olCAF, has announced that it will be reviewing its CAF Statutes and Regulations to determine who broke the rules, this is as the team’s scheduled Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Libya in Benina got cancelled.
After their chartered aeroplane (ValueJet) was diverted during descent and they were prohibited from leaving the airport in a chaotic and concerning scenario, the Super Eagles were essentially kept hostage in a locked, abandoned airport with no access to food, drink, or phone connections.
Despite President Bola Tinubu’s demands for prompt justice, the Federal Government of Nigeria summoned the Libyan Charge d’Affairs in Nigeria due to the inhumane treatment of Nigerian footballers yesterday.
The Nigerian squad protested the terrible treatment by refusing to play in the game after being stuck for more than 15 hours.
The Nigerian squad, which featured well-known players who represent prestigious clubs worldwide, posted videos and comments on social media to show their disgust and rage at the Libyans’ backward mindset.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian Football Federation, NFF, has given a detailed occurrence of what played out in Libya with 20 points.
This detailed 20-point information and explanation was provided by the NFF’s Director of Communications, Dr Ademola Olajire.
It provided a point-by-point account of how a keenly-anticipated Africa Cup of Nations qualifying match was relegated to a fiasco by Libyan federal authorities and Football Federation.
Read the 20 points of information and explanation below:
1) The chartered ValueJet aircraft departed from the Victor Attah International Airport, Uyo, at 11.55hours on Sunday, 13th October 2024, and landed at the Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano, at 13.10hours, for the completion of immigration formalities and for the aircraft to refuel.
2) The aircraft took off from Kano at 15.18hours, for the 3 hours and 35 minutes flight to Benghazi, Libya, expecting to arrive a few minutes before 8 pm Libya time.
3) Just as he was about to commence his initial approach into Benghazi, the captain (pilot) was instructed by the control tower that he could not land in Benghazi (despite having all the required landing papers and having completed all formalities before leaving Uyo and later, Kano, but should proceed to the Al-Abraq International Airport, even though the airport lacked the control navigators for landing at such hours. He complained that he was short on fuel, but his words fell on deaf ears as he was told sternly that the directive was from ‘higher authorities.’
4) On landing at the Al-Abraq International Airport in the small town of Labraq at 19.50 hours, it was clear that the airport was not a well-utilized facility. There were no scanning machines or the usual equipment for this service, and officials had to make do with mobile phones to scan passport data pages.
5) The delegation, which included 22 players and team officials; NFF President Alh. Ibrahim Musa Gusau; Deputy Governor of Edo State, Comrade Philip Shaibu; a couple of NFF Board members; NFF General Secretary, Dr Mohammed Sanusi; a couple of parliamentarians; a couple of NFF Management; a couple of media representatives and; a couple of stakeholders, was shown scant respect by the airport authorities who applied curt manners and stern tones.
6) It took over one hour for the team’s luggage to roll through the carousel, even though the bags and other items had already been hauled from the aircraft immediately on arrival.
7) No official of the Libyan Football Federation was at the airport to receive the delegation, as is the best practice globally. Airport officials could not answer the simple question of where the buses that would take the delegation members back to Benghazi (where the NFF had booked hotel rooms) were.
8) When delegation members, including the NFF President, Comrade Shaibu and Dr Sanusi, attempted to venture outside the airport to ascertain if vehicles were waiting for the team, they were stopped in the most uncouth manner by airport security personnel.
9) Calls to the General Secretary of LFF, Mr. Abdul-Nasser by Dr Sanusi yielded no fruits as the former kept promising that the buses would arrive in ‘10 minutes’, which later became ‘two hours’, and afterwards, ‘three hours.’ Later in the evening, it was no longer possible to reach him on the phone. Frustrated by this attitude, Dr Sanusi approached the security operatives to request that the team be allowed to go out and board the buses the NFF eventually hired. This request was rejected with insults. It took the intervention of the NFF dignitaries to prevent what would have escalated into a row, as the NFF President himself was not spared when he heard an exchange of voices between the security personnel and his General Secretary. This aggravated the tension and further frustrated the team.
10) Hour after hour, and with mounting frustration, delegation members, particularly the players, grew restless. There was no food or water provided by the LFF, or where to even procure these items, and there was no network or internet connection at the airport. These swiftly increased the level of frustration and anger.
11) At past midnight, it was learnt that there had been word from ‘higher authorities’ (Libya is a jurisdiction governed by two different administrations – a UN-recognized cabinet in Tripoli and a self-imposed team over Eastern Libya including places like Benghazi and Labraq) that the Nigeria delegation should be delayed for minimum of 10 hours at the airport for what they falsely claimed was done to their team in Nigeria. (All conversations between the NFF General Secretary and the LFF General Secretary on the match in Uyo, both written text and voice notes, are still in the NFF
17) The NFF repeated calls to officials of the Confederation of African Football, Nigeria’s FIFA Council Member Mr Amaju Melvin Pinnick and higher authorities in Nigeria. It dispatched a letter to CAF in which it detailed the antics of the hosts and hoped that the continental governing body would go ahead to “punish this rare bestiality visited on the beautiful game.” It noted that the Super Eagles had travelled hoping to enjoy a great game of football but had been sorely disappointed and frustrated by the unprecedented level of hostility and poor attitude of the hosts.
18) At daybreak, Mr. Maurice Eromosele, president of the Nigerian community in Eastern Libya, arrived with words of empathy from the Ambassador of Nigeria to Libya, His Excellency Alhaji Muhammad Muhammad. He expressed shock at the treatment meted out to the Nigeria delegation, who were made to spend the entire night inside the departure lounge of the Al-Abraq Airport. He said His Excellency ordered him to get a few things for the team, and he later returned with plastic bags loaded with croissants and drinks. These served as breakfast for the team.
19) More calls were made, and eventually, it was agreed by all parties that the team should not go ahead with the match but return to Nigeria to await the decision of CAF (who were briefed in detail on the situation) about the unplayed match.
20) After spending many more hours waiting for the Al-Abraq airport authorities to sell fuel to refill the chartered ValueJet aircraft (which was initially proving to be some sort of robotic engineering), the Nigeria delegation departed the Al-Abraq Airport (not worth the toga of ‘international’ by any scale) at exactly 15.05hours, bound for the city of Kano, and onwards to the Federal Capital, Abuja.