The scheduled 2025 Africa Cup of Nations, AFCON, qualifying match-day four tie between Nigeria’s Super Eagles and Libya’s Mediterranean Knights was on Tuesday called off.
News360 Info reports that the Super Eagles were scheduled to play Libya in the 2025 AFCON qualifier at the Benina Martyrs Stadium in Benghazi, Libya on Tuesday.
The match was supposed to be a return leg clash after Nigeria defeated the North African country 1-0 at the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium in Uyo last Friday.
However, players and officials of the Super Eagles were abandoned at the Al Abraq International Airport without food, water or Internet access for over 15 hours after arriving in Libya on Sunday.
Austin Eguavoen’s men eventually left Libya on Monday afternoon.
The Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, took the decision to pull the Super Eagles out of the encounter following the inhumane treatment the players were subjected to in Libya.
After the Super Eagles boycotted the match against Libya, the Confederation of African Football, CAF, released a statement over the delaying of the Nigerian national team at the Al Abraq International Airport.
CAF referred the matter to their Disciplinary Board for investigation and vowed to take appropriate action against those who violated its ‘Statutes and Regulations.’
“The matter has been referred to the CAF Disciplinary Board for investigation and appropriate action will be taken against those who violated the CAF Statutes and Regulations,” CAF’s statement read in part.
While welcoming the Super Eagles back home to Nigeria, President Bola Tinubu said the Libyan authorities wilfully violated the CAF’s Statutes and Regulations.
Tinubu reacted through a statement by his Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga on Monday night.
“The President commends the proactive coordination between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Federal Ministry of Sports Development in addressing the unfortunate episode and ensuring the safe return of our players.
“President Tinubu applauds the players for keeping their spirit alive despite the excruciating ordeal in Libya.
“He fervently calls on all lovers of the round-leather game and administrators to unite and work collaboratively to prevent and overcome such incidents in the future,” Onanuga noted in the statement.
Speaking with DAILY POST, Saheed Afolabi, who works at Clear TV, gave his opinion on the development.
He said, “Well, honestly it is actually a distressful experience.
“This is unfair, and this is not the first time that the North Africans will be doing this and I expect CAF to wake up from their slumber and issue a statement on this.
“They should condemn the Libyans and fine them. They should fix another venue for the game. If they want to award the three points to Libya fine but they should know that if they do that, they are setting a negative precedent for all other African countries because if all other African countries sees that the Libyans get away with this without any punishment meted out to them, then they would also adopt this kind of very weird and dangerous strategy to any team that are willing to come and play qualifying matches at their own ground.
“It is very disgraceful to me and CAF needs to do something about it.”
When asked what implications it would have on the Libyan national team, Afolabi added, “Well, the implications, I think it would have on the Mediterranean Knights, it sets a bad precedent honestly and it would allow all other African countries to see them as a country that doesn’t want to do the right thing.
“In Nigeria, their flight was scheduled to land in Uyo but they rather landed in Port Harcourt.
“After landing in Port Harcourt, despite the short notice, the NFF made arrangements for a chartered flight to take them to Uyo but they didn’t want to take it.
“The NFF again, made another arrangement for a well standard air-conditioned bus to take them but they didn’t take it, they rather went to hire their own buses.
“Still, the NFF made sure that security personnel followed them. So they purposely went through these so that they can also mete out negative treatment to the Super Eagles and these things are not justified.
“When your host is giving you this negative treatment, how do you trust them with their food, water and everything? So what is the safety and security of the players even on the pitch of play.
“So it is good that the Super Eagles boycotted the game.”
“I expect CAF to take a serious stand on this issue. They should issue a fine or punishment to the Libyans.
“I think that is the best thing to do, if not these things will continue to happen. To avoid such things to happen again, then they need to do the needful by giving out a heavy punishment.
“Ban them from using their own pitch for two years; after two years, I am very sure that they would come back to their right senses and do the right thing,” Afolabi said.
