Twenty hours in Al- Abraq: The ordeal of a National Football Team

On Monday evening, players, coaches and other members of the Super Eagles delegation landed at the Kano International Airport after fourteen gruelling hours, ‘imprisoned’ by Libyan authorities.

It was made out to seem like revenge over similar treatment meted out to the Libyans by Nigeria when they visited the country last week for the Africa Cup of Nations, AFCON qualifying match in Uyo. The Libyans claimed they had their plane diverted to another airport, rather than Uyo, and they were abandoned there for hours, then made to travel what they called a five-hour road trip on a road surrounded by forests, and little security until they got to Uyo.

This is the story the Libyans pushed through the media, but was this really what happened?

NFF dismissed Libya’s claims

The Libyans put this photo out to justify their plans for the Super Eagles

In a press statement issued by the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF’s Spokesman, Ademola Olajire shortly after the Uyo encounter, the Libyan Football Federation created chaos for its team, the Mediterranean Knights.

According to reports from the Nigeria Football Federation, the Libyans only informed the NFF that they would be landing in Port Harcourt three hours before their arrival.

After getting approval for their airline to proceed to Uyo, the game venue, they did not have money to bear the additional cost and chose to travel via road.

According to the NFF’s assistant director of Logistics, Emmanuel Ayanbunmi, the Libyan delegation jettisoned road transportation arrangements made by the NFF and instead hired buses on their own for their trip from Port Harcourt to Uyo.

A sinister plan hatched

Away sides travelling in Africa have faced the coldest of welcomes from their hosts. These frustrations are not new to African football and both clubs and National Teams expect these treatments when they occur. But what the Libyans did to the Nigerian team on Sunday, October 13, 2024 was nothing short of criminal.

Diverting the Nigerian aeroplane as it was about to land in Benghazi at 8p,m to Al-Abraq Airport, even though the airport lacked the control navigators for landing at such hours. They went ahead to lock the team up at the airport, not allowing anyone to step outside. When calls were made to the Libyan Football Federation on the movement of the team to their hotel, the General Secretary of the Libyan Football Federation, LFF Abdul-Nasser kept promising that the buses would arrive in ‘10 minutes’, which later became ‘two hours’, and afterwards, ‘three hours.’ Later in the evening, it was no longer possible to reach him on the phone.

At past midnight, it was learnt that there had been word from ‘higher authorities’ (Libya is a jurisdiction governed by two different administrations – a UN-recognized cabinet in Tripoli and a self-imposed team over Eastern Libya including places like Benghazi and Labraq) that the Nigeria delegation should be delayed for minimum of 10 hours at the airport for what they falsely claimed was done to their team in Nigeria.

The NFF President reacted: “We anticipated some shocks here given the false account of what happened in Nigeria as narrated by their team captain. But we did not expect these shenanigans. What I am seeing is despicable and has no place in the game of football which is meant to foster excellent relationships among nations and bring peoples from diverse cultures, religious persuasions and economic and political interests together in an ambience of peace and joy.”

In a conscious effort to play down their frustration, anger and hunger, players and officials resorted to playing games, listening to music, chatting themselves up, scanning through the airport exit door to see if any vehicles had arrived, and generally looking forward to daybreak, which they hoped would bring much-sought-after relief.

At 2 am, Captain William Ekong met the NFF President in the company of the NFF General Secretary to inform the President that the team may not be able to go ahead with the match, due to trauma, fatigue and body aches that resulted from lack of food, dehydration and very cruel and unimaginable treatment, which had led to some players falling ill.

The NFF dispatched a letter to CAF in which it detailed the antics of the hosts and hoped that the continental governing body would go ahead to “punish this rare bestiality visited on the beautiful game.” It noted that the Super Eagles had travelled hoping to enjoy a great game of football but had been sorely disappointed and frustrated by the unprecedented level of hostility and poor attitude of the hosts.

It was at this point that the team after communicating with Nigeria, decided not to play the game anymore and return home. After spending many more hours waiting for the Al-Abraq airport authorities to sell fuel to refill the chartered ValueJet aircraft, the Nigeria delegation departed the Al-Abraq Airport (not worth the toga of ‘international’ by any scale) at exactly 15.05hours, bound for the city of Kano, and onwards to the Federal Capital, Abuja.

A history of bestiality

Rivers United train in darkness as the lights were turned off

What happened between Benghazi and Al Abraq is not the first time the Libyans have meted such behaviour to Nigerian teams.

In November 2022, when Rivers United visited for a game against Al Nasr Benghazi, the Port Harcourt, Nigeria-based team complained about the treatment they received on arrival in Benghazi. Rivers United had won the first leg in Port Harcourt 5-0 and the Libyan side would do anything to get an advantage.

First, there was no provision for transportation, then, there was no police or security escort to the hotel. But their antics reached a crescendo when Rivers United’s privately arranged training session at a secret facility on Monday night was disrupted after the managers of the facility were intimidated by irate Al Naser fans to switch off the floodlights at the facility and attacked the team with bottles and stones. The irate fans further trailed the team to their hotel harassing players and officials and promising the team “Hell” when they came out for the official training session at the stadium on Tuesday night.

Which CAF would we see?

The Confederation of African Football stated on Monday that their disciplinary committee would investigate this and come up with a ruling.

This is not the first time host teams have frustrated a visiting side, but this is surely the first time, a full team have been held hostage for almost twenty-four hours.

In my time travelling around Africa since 2005, I have seen the lights turned off at our team hotel on the eve of the game, and we all slept in darkness and heat. That was in Malabo in 2005 as Renacimiento hosted Dolphins FC. I remember Sam Sam Jaja, Fanny Amun and I sleeping shirtless on the floor of the Balcony of one of the rooms. I have seen a brass band come and play at the lobby of the hotel we stayed in Cairo in 2005 on the eve of the game against Arab Contractors. They played until 2 am, meaning our players had little or no sleep. I have also seen our players sent to a hotel in South Africa at 7 am and told there were no rooms until the guests checked out at noon. They served us tea, while we sat on the floor waiting for guests to check out until we angrily moved to another hotel in Midrand. This was before a game against Supersport United.

These things happen in African football, but holding an entire team hostage is an all-time low that must be nipped in its bud before it escalates.

CAF can make a bold statement by disqualifying Libya from further participation in the 2025 AFCON qualifiers, then ban them from further participation in football-related activities until they prove that they are ready to welcome visitors to their home.

They can however be lily-livered and just announce a date to replay the game with a financial sanction on Libya to foot the Nigerian teams’ bill for the botched encounter.

The same CAF can also go left and announce a walkover against Nigeria for not honouring the game  (choosing to ignore all that happened), then throw Nigeria out of the AFCON qualifiers for bringing the game to disrepute.

Which CAF are we going to see when they announce the investigation reports of their disciplinary committee?

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