Nigerian football team left stranded in ‘hostage-like’ situation
The Nigerian football team was left stranded for over 12 hours at an airport in Libya, shortly before the two sides were scheduled to face off in an African Cup of Nations qualifier. In a very distressing situation, the Nigerian players and officials were stuck inside the Al Abraq International Airport, which was about three hours away by road to Benghazi, the venue of Tuesday’s match against Libya. Access to food, water or internet was also denied as per reports.
The plane which had carried the team was bizarrely rerouted from its original destination of Benghazi to Al Abraq, which is a significantly smaller airport primarily used for hajj operations, while in the air. When they landed they saw that there was no support from the Libyan Football Federation. The host team had not undertaken the necessary arrangements to transport the away side to Benghazi and thus the Nigerians were stuck in a terrible situation. The transport arranged by the Nigerian Federation was also not allowed to access the airport.
In response, Libya alleged that they had been subjected to ‘poor treatment’ during their visit to Nigeria for a previous qualifying game which they had lost.
The Super Eagles stars such as Victor Boniface, Wilfried Ndidi and captain William Troost-Ekong took to social media to show the world their plight and display their annoyance at the situation they were faced with. As a result of this ordeal, the Nigerian team have withdrawn from the clash against Libya on Monday, as per their captain.
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