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Not many pundits are expecting anything significant from the Confederation of Africa Football (CAF) when the Africa soccer ruling body meets to decide on the hostage-taking of the Nigerian contingent who ought to have played the return leg of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations against Libya in Benghazi on Tuesday. Not with the overwhelming evidence against the Libyans. In fact, CAF must carry its cross in this matter for approving a war-torn country to host its premium competition – the Africa Cup of Nations. This decision defies all logic. I digress!
Pundits have hinged their reservations on previous incidents involving North African teams. Nigeria’s flag bearer to one of CAF’s inter-club competitions Rivers United FC of Port Harcourt saw hell in Libya in 2022. Yes, Libya. In fact, in Benghazi.
According to a report by sportration.com, in a story titled: ‘Black night for African football as Rivers United FC are attacked in Libya’: ”Rivers United FC reported on arrival at the Benghazi airport for the second leg of their CAF Confederation Cup playoff round fixtures against Al Nasr in Benghazi on Wednesday 9, 2022, there were no police escorts nor were there security personnel to usher the visiting team into the city. So, Rivers United had to make do with their well-thought-out arrangement beforehand.
”Not even a provision for transportation was made by the hosts, Al Nasr Benghazi as the Nigerians were told in clear terms that they would have to pay for the luxury being provided by their hosts.
‘’The antics reached a crescendo when Rivers United’s privately arranged training session at a secret facility on Monday, October 31, was disrupted after the managers of the facility were intimidated by irate Al Nasr fans to switch off the floodlights at the facility and attacked the team with bottles and stones.”
Rivers United held a healthy 5-0 advantage from the first leg in Port Harcourt played November 2, 2022.
Back to the show of shame in Libya at the Al Abraq Airport, the Tunisian air officer who piloted the Value Jet aircraft from Kano described what happened whilst he was airborne as hostage-taking adding that: “The flight plan was to land in Benghazi as our destination and we got the approval from the Libyan authorities to land there, but unfortunately when we were at a close distance, we were told to divert to another airport which was about 300km away from our destination.
”It was far and towards the east and not a part of our coordinates. It is something that’s not good because, in aviation, we have our flight plan and calculate the amount of fuel that’ll take us through so we have to avoid issues like this because it could hamper our safety.
”When we were about to land in Benghazi, they told us no, citing it was an order from the highest authority in aviation, we cannot hide anything. I asked them at least eight times but they repeated the same thing, saying we cannot land there. Thank God we made it safely and we landed safely. We have all the evidence and they’re well documented,” the Tunisian aeronaut explained.
What is clear from the scenario created by the pilot is that we had a potential air crash in our hands, God forbid, if the pilot wasn’t an experienced one. What manner of hospitality would we have had, if the truth must be told? What plausible reason would the Libyans have advanced to convince people that what they did by diverting the aircraft from its original plan to the rustic Al Abraq Airport without landing instruments was in good faith?
The basic rule for hosts in soccer competitions starts before, during, and after the game. So, if Libyans could endanger the Nigerian contingent’s lives with their doublespeak to the pilot, is anyone surprised that these wicked souls allowed distinguished Nigerians to sleep in the mosquito-infested lounge? The Libyans didn’t want the game to hold by keeping the Nigerians hostage for 20 hours whilst subjecting them to a despicable setting and inhuman surroundings on empty stomachs with no food to eat nor water to quench their thirst.
As if to justify their acts of wickedness, the Libyans have released videos of what happened at the Port Harcourt Airport as if their captain didn’t apologise for such a disinformation prelude to the game which they lost. It is important to remind the Libyans that arriving in Port Harcourt instead of Uyo isn’t any big deal or an infraction of the rules. Uyo isn’t an international airport. Port Harcourt is. The Libyans are cheaply holding onto a straw with this excuse. After all, we provided the security architecture that took them to Uyo from the Garden City.
The needless media propaganda that the Libyans embraced in social media amounted to an afterthought having read the global condemnation of their atrocious acts. Football, like other sports, unites nations not otherwise. After all, they refused the Nigerian contingent into their country when they sought to enter to make their private bookings. Come to think of it, people who didn’t want the Nigerian contingent to use the Benghazi Airport were almost insisting that the team must pass through the Benghazi Airport to exit. But Nigeria refused to pass through that route. They returned to Nigeria through the Al Abaq Airport arrival route. It was obvious that they had sinister motives in everything they did.
Indeed, sports lawyer and Enugu Rangers International FC’s General Manager, Barrister Amobi Ezeaku, wrote in Wednesday’s edition of Sportinglife that: ”The Regulations are in place to accord protection to the rights of visiting teams, ensuring that they can travel, enter, and compete without facing unnecessary barriers.
”The lack of support from the Libyan Football Federation constitutes a violation of these regulatory standards, which are meant to foster a conducive environment for international matches.
”The repercussions of this oversight extend beyond mere logistics; they impact the reputation of both the Super Eagles and Nigerian football (I am sure you saw all the pictures trending online. Pictures of our top stars sleeping at the airport, stranded for long hours). There is an urgent need for CAF to uphold the regulations and ensure that all member associations adhere to their commitments,” Amobi Ezeaku wrote.
It must be stated here as captured by Ezeaku, ” More troubles could be in the coffers for the Libyan Football Federation because: ‘The host association that does not provide to the visiting team and the designated match officials all the facilities mentioned in the present regulations, shall reimburse all the expenses without prejudice to the sanctions that the Organizing Committee may impose upon it subsequently’.”
CAF has assembled a disciplinary committee to address the incident, which includes members such as Jane Njeri Onyango of Kenya (Vice-President); South Africa’s Norman Arendse, Mohamed Mostafa El-mashta of Egypt, and other representatives from Chad, Lesotho, Niger, Uganda, and Sierra Leone.
Interestingly, Nigeria’s own Justice Roli Daibo Harriman serves as the president of CAF’s Appeal Board, with Cape Verde’s Faustino Varela Monteiro as vice president.
CAF issued a statement on Monday, condemning the situation and vowing to hold accountable those responsible for the mistreatment of the Nigerian team.
“CAF views the disturbing and unacceptable experiences of the Nigerian National Football Team (Super Eagles) at an airport in Libya in a severe light,” the statement read.