Nigeria at the heart of a surreal situation in Libya!

Tuesday evening at 9 p.m. the meeting of the 4th day of group D of qualifications for the next CAN was to be held, in Morocco, between Libya and Nigeria. Had to, because the Super Eagles’ trip took a dramatic turn. Indeed, on Sunday morning, the players led by Augustine Eguavoen took the plane towards Benghazi, whose airport is located 19 km from Benina, the venue of the meeting. Except that nothing went as planned. The plane was authorized to land at another airport, a 2-hour drive from the initial destination.

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Once off the plane, the players and staff were parked in an airport waiting room, left to their own devices, without assistance or even food. The discussions between the members of the staff and the Libyan authorities obviously changed nothing and at the time of writing these lines, they were still stuck in this airport! The captain of Nigeria, William Troost-Ekong, was able to post photos on his social networks, and wrote a text to express his emotion at the situation.

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Players left abandoned in the airport!

“More than 12 hours in an abandoned airport in Libya after our plane was hijacked during descent. The Libyan government canceled our authorized landing in Benghazi for no reason. They locked the airport gates and left us without phone connection, food or drink. I have already experienced things before playing away in Africa, but this is shameful behavior. Even the Tunisian pilot, who fortunately managed to navigate at the last minute to an airport that was not suitable for our plane to land, had never seen anything like this before.”Troost-Ekong first wrote, before announcing that Nigeria would refuse to play the match following this scandalous reception. “As captain we decided with the team that we would not play this match. The CAF should look at the report and what is happening here. And if they decide to allow this kind of behavior, then let them have the points. »

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“We will not agree to travel anywhere by road here, even with security, it is not safe. We can only imagine what the hotel or food would be like if we continued”he concluded, visibly convinced that this enormous hiccup is voluntary. For the moment, CAF has not reacted officially, and the match is still announced for Tuesday evening. Striker Victor Osimhen, who is not at the rally because he is injured, called on the African Football Federation, asking it to act as quickly as possible. “I am disappointed by the unfair treatment my brothers and coaches received last night at the airport in Libya. Such actions go against the spirit of sportsmanship. I support my team and know they will stay strong despite these obstacles. I call on CAF and other football authorities to intervene, because my teammates and officials are still stuck at the airport in Libya. This is unacceptable and inhumane. We remain united, stronger than ever.”