The president of the Nigeria Football Federation, Ibrahim Gusau, don dey vow to fight with everything to protect the dignity of Naija and the lives of the players after the maltreatment dem receive from Libyan authorities.
The whole thing happen when Naija senior men’s national team travel to Libya for the second leg of their 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying Group D fixture against the Mediterranean Knights. But instead of good treatment, dem subject the players and officials to inhumane treatment upon arrival on Sunday.
In a video posted by the Eagles media team, the players and officials were left stranded with their luggage at the airport, with the Libyan airport officials no dey care about their plight and dey converse in Arabic.
Libya were supposed to host the three-time African champions at the 10,000-capacity Martyrs of Benina Stadium in Benina, but their plane was diverted to the Al Abraq Airport, which be over 200 km and three and a half hours drive from the planned camp site. The Al Abraq International Airport, which dem normally use for hajj operations, lack basic amenities, leaving players and officials tired and frustrated.
Neither a receptive team nor vehicles were provided by the Libyan Football Federation, forcing the Nigeria Football Federation to make an alternate transportation arrangement. The Nigerian contingent was caged at the airport for over 20 hours without food or water and completely shut out of the world, compelling the three-time Africa champions to boycott the game.
Gusau talk in an interview with Super Sports, saying, “We have been in this system for quite some time, and there is nothing we have not seen when it comes to this kind of issue, but this one has gone to a certain level that we don’t even know what to say. They kept our players in a place without internet, without food and water, and they couldn’t even take a shower. You can see the level of trauma that the players went through before some of them started complaining, and that was why the captain and the players decided that they were not going to play. It was practically impossible for them to be at their best before the match.”
