Nigeria Football Federation President Ibrahim Gusau has vowed to fight tooth and nail to protect the dignity of the country and the lives of its players.
The decision was made in response to the ill-treatment of Nigeria’s senior men’s national team by the Libyan authorities during their visit to the country for the Group D second leg of the 2025 African Cup of Nations qualifiers against the Mediterranean Knights. , only to be treated inhumanely upon arrival. on sunday.
A video posted by the Eagles’ media team showed players and officials stranded at the airport with their luggage, and Libyan airport staff indifferent to their plight and speaking to them in Arabic.
Libya was scheduled to host the three-time African champions at the 10,000-seat Benina Martyrs Stadium in Benina, just 10 kilometers from Benghazi, but the plane was diverted to Al Abraq Airport, more than 200 kilometers away. Ta. 30 minutes by car from the planned camping site.
Al Abraq International Airport, usually used for Hajj activities, lacked basic facilities, leaving athletes and officials tired and dissatisfied. The Libyan Football Federation did not provide a host team or vehicles, forcing the Nigeria Football Federation to arrange alternative transportation.
The three-time African champions were forced to boycott the match as Nigeria’s national team was caged at the airport for more than 20 hours, without food or water and completely cut off from the rest of the world.
Gusau said this in an interview with SuperSport.
“We’ve been in this system for quite some time and there’s nothing we haven’t seen regarding these types of problems, but this problem has reached a level where we don’t even know what to say. .
“Sometimes we have issues with permits and it takes us five hours instead of two hours, which is normal, but holding us for almost 20 hours is a big problem.
“They locked our players in a place with no internet, no food, no water, they couldn’t even take a shower. You have to wonder how much trauma some of our players went through before they started complaining. That’s why the captain and the players decided not to play. It was virtually impossible for them to be at their best before the game.
