. NFF’s Director of Communications, Dr Ademola Olajire, supplies 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 Soccer Federation
1) The chartered ValueJet plane departed from the Victor Attah Worldwide Airport, Uyo at 11.55hours on Sunday, 13th October 2024, and landed on the Aminu Kano Worldwide Airport, Kano at 13.10hours, for the completion of immigration formalities and for the plane to refuel.
2) The plane took off from Kano at 15.18hours, for the three hours and 35 minutes flight to Benghazi, Libya, anticipating to reach a couple of minutes earlier than 8pm Libya time.
3) Simply as he was about to start his preliminary method into Benghazi, the captain (pilot) was instructed by the management tower that he couldn’t land in Benghazi (regardless of having all of the required touchdown papers and having accomplished all formalities earlier than leaving Uyo and later, Kano, however ought to proceed to the Al-Abraq Worldwide Airport, although the airport lacked the management navigators for touchdown at such hours. He complained that he was quick on gasoline however his phrases fell on deaf ears as he was instructed in stern method that the directive was from ‘greater authorities.’
4) On touchdown on the Al-Abraq Worldwide Airport, within the small city of Labraq, at 19.50hours, it was clear that the airport was not a well-utilized facility. There have been no scanning machines or the standard tools for this service, and officers needed to make do with cell phones to scan passport knowledge pages.
5) The delegation, which included 22 gamers and group officers; NFF President Alh. Ibrahim Musa Gusau; Deputy Governor of Edo State, Comrade Philip Shaibu; a few NFF Board members; NFF Basic Secretary, Dr Mohammed Sanusi; a few parliamentarians; a few NFF Administration; a few media representatives and; a few stakeholders, was proven scant respect by the airport authorities who utilized curt manners and stern tones.
6) It took over one hour for the group’s baggage to roll by way of the carousel, although the luggage and different objects had already been hauled from the plane instantly on arrival.
7) No official of the Libyan Soccer Federation was on the airport to obtain the delegation, as is the most effective observe globally. Airport officers couldn’t reply the easy query on the place the buses that might take the delegation members again to Benghazi (the place the NFF had booked lodge rooms) had been.
8) When delegation members together with the NFF President, Comrade Shaibu and Dr Sanusi tried to enterprise exterior the airport to determine if there have been automobiles ready for the group, they had been stopped in essentially the most uncouth of manners by airport safety personnel.
9) Calls to the Basic Secretary of LFF, Mr. Abdul-Nasser by Dr Sanusi yielded no fruits as the previous stored promising that the buses would arrive in ‘10 minutes’, which later grew to become ‘two hours’, and afterwards, ‘three hours.’ Later within the night, it was not potential to succeed in him on telephone. Pissed off by this angle, Dr Sanusi approached the safety operatives to request that the group be allowed to exit and board the buses the NFF finally employed. This request was rejected with insults. It took the intervention of the NFF dignitaries to stop what would have escalated right into a row because the NFF President himself was not spared when he heard trade of voices between the safety personnel and his Basic Secretary. This aggravated the strain and additional annoyed the group.
10) Hour after hour, and with mounting frustration, delegation members, notably the gamers, grew stressed. There was no meals or water offered by the LFF, or the place to even procure these things, and there was no community or web connection on the airport. These swiftly elevated the extent of frustration and anger.
11) At previous midnight, it was learnt that there had been phrase from ‘greater authorities’ (Libya is a jurisdiction ruled by two completely different administrations – a UN-recognized cupboard in Tripoli and a self-imposed group over Japanese Libya together with locations like Benghazi and Labraq) that the Nigeria delegation needs to be delayed for minimal of 10 hours on the airport for what they falsely claimed was carried out to their group in Nigeria. (All conversations between the NFF Basic Secretary and the LFF Basic Secretary on the match in Uyo, each written textual content and voices notes, are nonetheless within the NFF Basic Secretary’s telephone)
12) The NFF group was shocked as a result of the incident referred to in Nigeria was totally generated by the Libyans. They knowledgeable the NFF that their contingent could be touchdown in Port Harcourt, and never Uyo, solely two hours to the group’s arrival in Nigeria. Regardless of this, the NFF moved swiftly to get authorities to grant their plane motion allow from Port Harcourt to Uyo, however this was jettisoned because the LFF apparently didn’t cherish the extra price dispatched by the constitution firm. They opted to journey by street, refused to make use of the buses employed by the NFF and as an alternative employed their very own, and disrespected recommendation to not journey by night time. Once they caught to their weapons to maneuver by night time, the NFF offered safety. The NFF even offered the group coaching facility the day after the match and secured direct flight allow from Uyo to Benghazi for the delegation.
13) Infuriated, the NFF President reacted: “We anticipated some shocks right here given the false account of what occurred in Nigeria as narrated by their group captain. However we didn’t count on these shenanigans. What I’m seeing is despicable and has no place within the sport of soccer which is supposed to foster glorious relationships amongst nations and produce peoples from numerous cultures, spiritual persuasions and financial and political pursuits collectively in an atmosphere of peace and pleasure.”
14) The NFF learnt that the Embassy of Nigeria in Tripoli had written, a fortnight earlier, to the authorities in Benghazi that they might wish to welcome the Nigeria delegation on arrival. This software was mentioned to have been rejected outright.
15) In a acutely aware effort to minimize their frustration, anger and starvation, gamers and officers resorted to enjoying video games, listening to music, chatting themselves up, scanning by way of the airport exit door to see if any automobiles had arrived, and customarily regarded ahead to dawn, which they hoped would carry much-sought-after reduction.
16) Many calls had been made to greater authorities in Nigeria to apprise them of the scenario, and these individuals all expressed fears for the security and safety of the group. These fears had been actual and justified given the plethora of threats thrown by the Libyans on legacy and social media within the days earlier than and after the match in Uyo. At 2am, Captain William Ekong met the NFF President within the firm of the NFF Basic Secretary to tell the President that the group might not have the ability to go forward with the match, attributable to trauma, fatigue and physique aches that resulted from lack of meals, dehydration and really merciless and unimaginable remedy, which had led to some gamers falling unwell.
17) The NFF repeated calls to officers of the Confederation of African Soccer, Nigeria’s FIFA Council Member Mr. Amaju Melvin Pinnick and better authorities in Nigeria. It dispatched a letter to CAF through which it detailed the antics of the hosts and hoped that the continental governing physique would go forward to “punish this uncommon bestiality visited on the attractive sport.” It famous that the Tremendous Eagles had traveled hoping to take pleasure in a fantastic sport of soccer however had been sorely disenchanted and annoyed by the unprecedented degree of hostility and poor angle of the hosts.
18) At dawn, Mr. Maurice Eromosele, president of the Nigerian neighborhood in Japanese Libya, arrived with phrases of empathy from the Ambassador of Nigeria to Libya, His Excellency Alhaji Muhammad Muhammad. He expressed shock on the remedy meted out to the Nigeria delegation, who had been made to spend the whole night time contained in the departure lounge of the Al-Abraq Airport. He mentioned His Excellency ordered him to get a number of issues for the group, and he later returned with plastic baggage loaded with croissants and drinks. These served as breakfast for the group.
19) Extra calls had been made and finally, it was agreed by all events that the group mustn’t go forward with the match, however return to Nigeria to await the choice of CAF (who had been briefed intimately on the scenario) almost about the un-played match.
20) After spending many extra hours ready for the Al-Abraq airport authorities to promote gasoline to refill the chartered ValueJet plane (which was initially proving to be some form of robotic engineering), the Nigeria delegation departed the Al-Abraq Airport (not definitely worth the toga of ‘worldwide’ by any scale) at precisely 15.05hours, sure for the town of Kano, and onwards to the Federal Capital, Abuja.
PHOTO 1: Nigeria delegation members on the airport
PHOTO 2: Tremendous Eagles gamers and officers milling across the departure lounge of the Al-Abraq airport
