By Halimah Olamide
The Minister of Sports Development, John Enoh, has described the Super Eagles’ hostage situation in Libya as unspeakable.
This was contained in a statement by the Minister on Monday, following earlier reports of the team being hold hostage in an abandoned airport in Libya.
“I strongly condemn the obnoxious treatment meted on players and officials of the Senior National Team,the Super Eagles who arrived Libya, yesterday the 13th of October for the reverse version of the match played on Friday in Uyo, the AFCON 2025 Group D qualifiers.
“The National Team was en route Benghazi but was diverted on approach the airport(with very scant attention to their safety),to Al Abaq Airport, which is hours away from Benghazi, where their match is slated to take place.”
The Minister noted that he has involved the necessary authorities and called for all the necessary bodies to intervene to ensure the safe return of the players.
“All through the night,I have escalated the matter and involved all necessary authorities.
“From the Foreign Affairs Minister ,the National Security Advicer,the DG NIA ,Amaju Pinnick, our CAF Executive member.
“I have also remained in touch with both the president of the NFF,who is on ground with the team and the Chairman of Value Jet,owners of the plane that airlifted the team to Libya.
“All hands must be on deck to protect our National Team.
“The Team have succinctly stated that they have been unattended to for upwards of about 15 hrs since arrival ,with no food ,no accommodation ,left in a mosquito infested environment and cordoned off by Libyan security not to step out of the airport and they have access to nothing. To say the least,they face an almost ‘hostage’ situation.
“These are sports men set to compete in an AFCON qualifying match come Tuesday!”
According to the minister, the safety of the players is most paramount. He also noted that the events that played out in the past few hours, has shown that the players’ safety is not assured.
Additionally, he noted that the NFF president has been instructed to lay a formal complaint to CAF without prejudice to any actions already taken.
Enoh noted that while the President of CAF seemed to only be concerned about what to do to get the team participate in the match tomorrow, he rather insisted that CAF should work with the Nigerian government on ensuring the safe return of the team.
“This must be on record and thoroughly addressed. This morning i was on a conference call with CAF President and CAF Secretary General.
”While the CAF President’s concern seems to be what to do to get the national team participate in tomorrow’s match, I have instead informed CAF that the concern of the Government and people of Nigeria is first, the safety of the team and their safe return, urging that CAF should focus on working with us to achieve this.
“There must be a serious adverse conseqùence to the Libyan football federation for this unspeakable behaviour.
“This can not be through insisting that Nigeria still takes part in this match given the very obvious situation.
“Let me thank the team captain William Troost-Ekong for being hands-on and communicating very efficiently and effectively on the facts of the matter as it concerns our national team in Libya.” He wrote.